Standard Lemma guide

ruthenium

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

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  • ro͞o-thē′-nē-əm
  • /ɹuːˈθiːniəm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A metallic chemical element (symbol Ru) with an atomic number of 44.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • Their latest catalyst includes some ruthenium.

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

Examples

  • This reaction substitutes a ruthenium for an osmium.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a rare polyvalent metallic element of the platinum group; it is found associated with platinum

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Ru, atomic number 44

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: metallic element, metal

History

Etymology

Ruthenia + -ium. Named by Baltic German scientist Karl Ernst Claus in 1844 in honour of Russia (using the Latin name Ruthenia).

Across languages

Translations

73 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: rutenium — chemical element
  • Albanian: ruten — chemical element
  • Arabic: رُوثِينِيُوم (rūṯīniyūm) — chemical element
  • Arabic: رُوتِينِيُوم (rūtīniyūm) — chemical element
  • Armenian: ռութենիում (ṙutʻenium) — chemical element
  • Asturian: ruteniu — chemical element
  • Basque: rutenioa — chemical element
  • Belarusian: рутэ́ній (ruténij) — chemical element
  • Breton: ruteniom — chemical element
  • Bulgarian: руте́ний (ruténij) — chemical element
  • Catalan: ruteni — chemical element
  • Chinese Mandarin: 釕 /钌 (liǎo) — chemical element
  • Cornish: ruthenyum — chemical element
  • Czech: ruthenium — chemical element
  • Danish: ruthenium — chemical element
  • Dutch: ruthenium — chemical element
  • Esperanto: rutenio — chemical element
  • Estonian: ruteenium — chemical element
  • Faroese: rutenium — chemical element
  • Finnish: rutenium — chemical element
  • French: ruthénium — chemical element
  • West-Frisian: ruthenium — chemical element
  • Friulian: ruteni — chemical element
  • Galician: rutenio — chemical element
  • Georgian: რუთენიუმი (ruteniumi) — chemical element
  • German: Ruthenium — chemical element
  • Greek: ρουθήνιο (routhínio) — chemical element
  • Hebrew: רותניום (rutényum) — chemical element
  • Hindi: नक्षरातु (nakṣarātu) — chemical element
  • Hungarian: ruténium — chemical element
  • Icelandic: rúten — chemical element
  • Interlingua: ruthenium — chemical element
  • Irish: ruitéiniam — chemical element
  • Italian: rutenio — chemical element
  • Japanese: ルテニウム (ruteniumu) — chemical element
  • Kashubian: ruten — chemical element
  • Khmer: រុយតេញ៉ូម (ruyteeñoum) — chemical element
  • Korean: 루테늄 (rutenyum) — chemical element
  • Latvian: rutēnijs — chemical element
  • Lithuanian: rutenis — chemical element
  • Luxembourgish: Ruthenium — chemical element
  • Macedonian: рутениум (rutenium) — chemical element
  • Malay: rutenium — chemical element
  • Maltese: rutenju — chemical element
  • Manx: rutainium — chemical element
  • Mongolian: рутени (ruteni) — chemical element
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ruthenium — chemical element
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: ruthenium — chemical element
  • Occitan: rutèni — chemical element
  • Polish: ruten — chemical element
  • Portuguese: ruténio — chemical element
  • Portuguese: rutênio — chemical element
  • Romanian: ruteniu — chemical element
  • Russian: руте́ний (ruténij) — chemical element
  • Scottish Gaelic: ruitèiniam — chemical element
  • Serbo-Croatian: рутениjум m рутениј — chemical element
  • Serbo-Croatian: rutenijum — chemical element
  • Serbo-Croatian: rutenij — chemical element
  • Slovak: ruténium — chemical element
  • Slovene: ruténij — chemical element
  • Spanish: rutenio — chemical element
  • Swedish: rutenium — chemical element
  • Tagalog: rutenyo — chemical element
  • Tajik: рутений (ruteniy) — chemical element
  • Tamil: ருதெனியம் (ruteṉiyam) — chemical element
  • Thai: รูทีเนียม (ruu-tii-nîiam) — chemical element
  • Turkish: rutenyum — chemical element
  • Ukrainian: руте́ній (ruténij) — chemical element
  • Uyghur: رۇتېنىي (rutëniy) — chemical element
  • Uzbek: ruteniy — chemical element
  • Uzbek: рутений (ruteniy) — chemical element
  • Vietnamese: ruteni — chemical element
  • Welsh: rwtheniwm — chemical element
Real reading context

ruthenium in complete knowledge articles