noun · 2 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
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Received-Pronunciation:/pəˈləʊ.nɪ.əm/
US:pəlōʹnēəm
US:/pəˈloʊ.ni.əm/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -əʊniəm
CMU ARPABET:P AH0 L OW1 N IY0 AH0 M
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A rare, highly radioactive chemical element (symbol Po) with atomic number 84.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
a radioactive metallic element that is similar to tellurium and bismuth; occurs in uranium ores but can be produced by bombarding bismuth with neutrons in a nuclear reactor
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: Po, atomic number 84
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: metallic element, metal
History
Etymology
From New Latin polonium, from Medieval Latin Polonia (“Poland”), named after Marie Curie's homeland.
Across languages
Translations
73 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Afrikaans:
polonium
— chemical element
Albanian:
polonium
— chemical element
Arabic:
بُولُونِيُوم
(būlūniyūm)
— chemical element
Armenian:
պոլոնիում
(polonium)
— chemical element
Asturian:
poloniu
— chemical element
Basque:
polonioa
— chemical element
Belarusian:
пало́ній
(palónij)
— chemical element
Breton:
poloniom
— chemical element
Bulgarian:
поло́ний
(polónij)
— chemical element
Catalan:
poloni
— chemical element
Chinese Mandarin:
釙 /钋
(pō)
— chemical element
Cornish:
polonyum
— chemical element
Czech:
polonium
— chemical element
Danish:
polonium
— chemical element
Dutch:
polonium
— chemical element
Esperanto:
polonio
— chemical element
Estonian:
poloonium
— chemical element
Faroese:
polonium
— chemical element
Finnish:
polonium
— chemical element
French:
polonium
— chemical element
West-Frisian:
polonium
— chemical element
Friulian:
poloni
— chemical element
Galician:
polonio
— chemical element
Georgian:
პოლონიუმი
(ṗoloniumi)
— chemical element
German:
Polonium
— chemical element
Greek:
πολώνιο
(polónio)
— chemical element
Hebrew:
פולוניום
(polonyum)
— chemical element
Hindi:
तोयातु
(toyātu)
— chemical element
Hungarian:
polónium
— chemical element
Icelandic:
pólon
— chemical element
Irish:
polóiniam
— chemical element
Italian:
polonio
— chemical element
Japanese:
ポロニウム
(poroniumu)
— chemical element
Kashubian:
pòlón
— chemical element
Kazakh:
полоний
(polonii)
— chemical element
Korean:
폴로늄
(pollonyum)
— chemical element
Latin:
polonium
— chemical element
Latvian:
polonijs
— chemical element
Lithuanian:
polonis
— chemical element
Luxembourgish:
Polonium
— chemical element
Macedonian:
полониум
(polonium)
— chemical element
Malay:
polonium
— chemical element
Maltese:
polonju
— chemical element
Manx:
polonium
— chemical element
Mongolian:
полони
(poloni)
— chemical element
Norwegian Bokmål:
polonium
— chemical element
Norwegian Nynorsk:
polonium
— chemical element
Occitan:
polòni
— chemical element
Persian:
پلونیوم
(polôniyum)
— chemical element
Polish:
polon
— chemical element
Brazilian Portuguese:
polônio
— chemical element
European Portuguese:
polónio
— chemical element
Romanian:
poloniu
— chemical element
Russian:
поло́ний
(polónij)
— chemical element
Scottish Gaelic:
polòiniam
— chemical element
Serbo-Croatian:
полониjум
— chemical element
Serbo-Croatian:
полониj
— chemical element
Serbo-Croatian:
polonijum
— chemical element
Serbo-Croatian:
polonij
— chemical element
Slovak:
polonium
— chemical element
Slovene:
polonij
— chemical element
Spanish:
polonio
— chemical element
Swedish:
polonium
— chemical element
Tajik:
полоний
(poloniy)
— chemical element
Tamil:
அனலியம்
(aṉaliyam)
— chemical element
Thai:
พอโลเนียม
(pɔɔ-loo-nîiam)
— chemical element
