Standard Lemma guide

germanium

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: jûrmā'nēəm
  • US: /d͡ʒɚˈmeɪni.əm/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -eɪniəm

1

noun

Meaning 1

A nonmetallic chemical element (symbol Ge) with an atomic number of 32: a lustrous, hard-brittle, grayish-white metalloid in the carbon group.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An atom of this element.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a brittle grey crystalline element that is a semiconducting metalloid (resembling silicon) used in transistors; occurs in germanite and argyrodite

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Ge, atomic number 32

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: chemical element, element, semiconductor, semiconducting material

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin Germānus Latin Germānī Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin Germānia ▲ Latin -ius New Latin -ium German Germaniumbor. English germanium Borrowed from German Germanium.

Across languages

Translations

79 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: germanium — chemical element
  • Albanian: germanium — chemical element
  • Arabic: جِرْمَانِيُوم (jirmāniyūm) — chemical element
  • Arabic: أَلْمَانِيُوم (ʔalmāniyūm) — chemical element
  • Armenian: գերմանիում (germanium) — chemical element
  • Asturian: xermaniu — chemical element
  • Basque: germanioa — chemical element
  • Belarusian: герма́ній (hjermánij) — chemical element
  • Breton: germaniom — chemical element
  • Bulgarian: герма́ний (germánij) — chemical element
  • Catalan: germani — chemical element
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鍺 /锗 (zhě) — chemical element
  • Cornish: germaniom — chemical element
  • Czech: germanium — chemical element
  • Danish: germanium — chemical element
  • Dutch: germanium — chemical element
  • Esperanto: germaniumo — chemical element
  • Estonian: germaanium — chemical element
  • Faroese: germanium — chemical element
  • Finnish: germanium — chemical element
  • French: germanium — chemical element
  • West-Frisian: germanium — chemical element
  • Friulian: gjermani — chemical element
  • Galician: xermanio — chemical element
  • Georgian: გერმანიუმი (germaniumi) — chemical element
  • German: Germanium — chemical element
  • Greek: γερμάνιο (germánio) — chemical element
  • Hebrew: גרמניום (germányum) — chemical element
  • Hindi: सिकातु (sikātu) — chemical element
  • Hungarian: germánium — chemical element
  • Icelandic: german — chemical element
  • Indonesian: germanium — chemical element
  • Interlingua: germanium — chemical element
  • Irish: gearmáiniam — chemical element
  • Italian: germanio — chemical element
  • Japanese: ゲルマニウム (gerumaniumu) — chemical element
  • Kashubian: germón — chemical element
  • Kazakh: германий (germanii) — chemical element
  • Khmer: ស៊ែម៉ាញ៉ូម (sɛɛmaañoum) — chemical element
  • Korean: 게르마늄 (gereumanyum) — chemical element
  • Korean: 저마늄 (jeomanyum) — chemical element
  • Latvian: germānijs — chemical element
  • Lingala: jemani class 9a/10a — chemical element
  • Lithuanian: germanis — chemical element
  • Luxembourgish: Germanium — chemical element
  • Macedonian: германиум (germanium) — chemical element
  • Malay: germanium — chemical element
  • Maltese: ġermanju — chemical element
  • Manx: germaanium — chemical element
  • Mongolian: германи (germani) — chemical element
  • Norwegian: germanium — chemical element
  • Occitan: germani — chemical element
  • Persian: ژرمانیوم (žermâniyom) — chemical element
  • Polish: german — chemical element
  • Portuguese: germânio — chemical element
  • Romanian: germaniu — chemical element
  • Russian: герма́ний (germánij) — chemical element
  • Scottish Gaelic: gearmainium — chemical element
  • Serbo-Croatian: гѐрма̄ниј — chemical element
  • Serbo-Croatian: германиjум — chemical element
  • Serbo-Croatian: gèrmānij — chemical element
  • Serbo-Croatian: germanijum — chemical element
  • Slovak: germánium — chemical element
  • Slovene: germánij — chemical element
  • Spanish: germanio — chemical element
  • Swahili: gerimani — chemical element
  • Swedish: germanium — chemical element
  • Tagalog: hermanyo — chemical element
  • Tajik: германий (germaniy) — chemical element
  • Tamil: சாம்பலியம் (cāmpaliyam) — chemical element
  • Thai: เจอร์เมเนียม (jəə-mee-nîiam) — chemical element
  • Turkish: germanyum — chemical element
  • Ukrainian: герма́ній (hermánij) — chemical element
  • Ukrainian: ґерма́ній (germánij) — chemical element
  • Uzbek: германий (germaniy) — chemical element
  • Uzbek: germaniy — chemical element
  • Vietnamese: gecmani — chemical element
  • Volapük: gärmin — chemical element
  • Welsh: germaniwm — chemical element