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.
ĭrĭd'ēəm
/ɪˈɹɪd.i.əm/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:IH2 R IH1 D IY0 AH0 M
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A chemical element with an atomic number of 77: a very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A single 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 heavy brittle metallic element of the platinum group; used in alloys; occurs in natural alloys with platinum or osmium
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Ir, atomic number 77
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: metallic element, metal
History
Etymology
From international scientific vocabulary, from New Latin iridium, from Classical Latin iris + -ium, from Ancient Greek ἶρις (îris, “rainbow”), because of the bright colour of many of the element's salts.
Across languages
Translations
79 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Afrikaans:
iridium
— chemical element
Albanian:
irid
— chemical element
Arabic:
إِرِيدِيُوم
(ʔirīdiyūm)
— chemical element
