Phrase guide

potassium cyanide

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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1

noun

Meaning 1

The potassium salt of hydrocyanic acid, KCN; the colourless crystals are soluble in water, and it is extremely poisonous, and is used in electroplating, the extraction of gold and silver from their ores, and in photography.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: chemistry, inorganic-chemistry, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a poisonous salt (KCN) used in electroplating and in photography

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: cyanide

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: cianur de potassi — inorganic compound
  • Chinese Mandarin: 氰化鉀 /氰化钾 (qínghuàjiǎ) — inorganic compound
  • Czech: cyankáli — inorganic compound
  • Czech: kyanid draselný — inorganic compound
  • Finnish: kaliumsyadini — inorganic compound
  • Finnish: syadini — inorganic compound
  • French: cyanure de potassium — inorganic compound
  • German: Zyankali — inorganic compound
  • German: Kaliumcyanid — inorganic compound
  • Greek: κυανιούχο κάλιο (kyanioúcho kálio) — inorganic compound
  • Hungarian: kálium-cianid — inorganic compound
  • Hungarian: ciánkáli — inorganic compound
  • Icelandic: kalíumsýaníð — inorganic compound
  • Japanese: シアン化カリウム (shian-ka kariumu) — inorganic compound
  • Japanese: 青酸カリ (seisan kari) — inorganic compound
  • Korean: 청산가리 (cheongsan'gari) — inorganic compound
  • Portuguese: cianeto de potássio — inorganic compound
  • Spanish: cianuro de potasio — inorganic compound
  • Swedish: cyankalium — inorganic compound
  • Swedish: kaliumcyanid — inorganic compound
  • Thai: โพแทสเซียมไซยาไนด์ (poo-tɛ́ɛs-sîiam-sai-yaa-nai) — inorganic compound
  • Ukrainian: ціа́нистий ка́лій (ciánystyj kálij) — inorganic compound
  • Ukrainian: ціані́д ка́лію (cianíd káliju) — inorganic compound
  • Yiddish: ציאַנקאַלי (tsyankali) — inorganic compound