Standard Lemma guide

selenium

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.

  • UK, US: sĭlēn′ēəm
  • UK, US: səlēn′ēəm
  • UK, US: /sɪˈliːni.əm/
  • UK, US: /səˈliːni.əm/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːniəm
  • CMU ARPABET: S AH0 L IY1 N IY0 AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A nonmetallic chemical element (symbol Se) with an atomic number of 34, used mainly in glassmaking and pigments and as a semiconductor.

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

Broader terms: chalcogen

2

noun

Meaning 2

An atom of this element.

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

3

noun

Meaning 3

a toxic nonmetallic element related to sulfur and tellurium; occurs in several allotropic forms; a stable grey metallike allotrope conducts electricity better in the light than in the dark and is used in photocells; occurs in sulfide ores (as pyrite)

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Se, atomic number 34

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: chemical element, element, antioxidant

History

Etymology

From French sélénium, the name coined by Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius in 1818 from Ancient Greek σελήνη (selḗnē, “moon”) in reference to original confusion with the similar element tellurium.

Across languages

Translations

79 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: seleen — chemical element
  • Afrikaans: selenium — chemical element
  • Albanian: selen — chemical element
  • Arabic: سِيلِينِيُوم (sīlīniyūm) — chemical element
  • Armenian: սելեն (selen) — chemical element
  • Asturian: seleniu — chemical element
  • Basque: selenioa — chemical element
  • Belarusian: селе́н (sjeljén) — chemical element
  • Breton: seleniom — chemical element
  • Bulgarian: селе́н (selén) — chemical element
  • Catalan: seleni — chemical element
  • Chinese Mandarin: 硒 (xī) — chemical element
  • Cornish: seleniom — chemical element
  • Czech: selen — chemical element
  • Danish: selen — chemical element
  • Dutch: seleen — chemical element
  • Dutch: selenium — chemical element
  • Esperanto: seleno — chemical element
  • Estonian: seleen — chemical element
  • Faroese: selen — chemical element
  • Finnish: seleeni — chemical element
  • French: sélénium — chemical element
  • West-Frisian: seleen — chemical element
  • Friulian: seleni — chemical element
  • Galician: selenio — chemical element
  • Georgian: სელენი (seleni) — chemical element
  • German: Selen — chemical element
  • Greek: σελήνιο (selínio) — chemical element
  • Hebrew: סלניום (selenyum) — chemical element
  • Hindi: मेचाग्नि (mecāgni) — chemical element
  • Hungarian: szelén — chemical element
  • Icelandic: selen — chemical element
  • Interlingua: selenium — chemical element
  • Irish: seiléiniam — chemical element
  • Italian: selenio — chemical element
  • Japanese: セレン (seren) — chemical element
  • Kashubian: selén — chemical element
  • Kazakh: селен (selen) — chemical element
  • Khmer: សេលេញ៉ូម (seeleiñoum) — chemical element
  • Korean: 셀렌 (sellen) — chemical element
  • Korean: 셀레늄 (sellenyum) — chemical element
  • Latin: selēnium — chemical element
  • Latvian: selēns — chemical element
  • Limburgish: seleen — chemical element
  • Lingala: seleni class 9a/10a — chemical element
  • Lithuanian: selenas — chemical element
  • Luxembourgish: Selen — chemical element
  • Macedonian: селе́н (selén) — chemical element
  • Malay: selenium — chemical element
  • Maltese: selenju — chemical element
  • Manx: shellainium — chemical element
  • Mongolian: селен (selen) — chemical element
  • Norwegian: selen — chemical element
  • Occitan: selèni — chemical element
  • Polish: selen — chemical element
  • Portuguese: selénio — chemical element
  • Portuguese: selênio — chemical element
  • Romanian: seleniu — chemical element
  • Russian: селе́н (selén) — chemical element
  • Scottish Gaelic: selenium — chemical element
  • Serbo-Croatian: се̏ле̄н — chemical element
  • Serbo-Croatian: сѐле̄ниј — chemical element
  • Serbo-Croatian: селенијум — chemical element
  • Serbo-Croatian: sȅlēn — chemical element
  • Serbo-Croatian: sèlēnij — chemical element
  • Serbo-Croatian: selenijum — chemical element
  • Slovak: selén — chemical element
  • Slovene: selen — chemical element
  • Spanish: selenio — chemical element
  • Swedish: selen — chemical element
  • Tagalog: selenyo — chemical element
  • Tajik: селен (selen) — chemical element
  • Tamil: செங்கந்தகம் (ceṅkantakam) — chemical element
  • Thai: ซีลีเนียม (sii-lii-nîiam) — chemical element
  • Turkish: selenyum — chemical element
  • Ukrainian: селе́н (selén) — chemical element
  • Uyghur: سېلېن (sëlën) — chemical element
  • Uzbek: selen — chemical element
  • Welsh: seleniwm — chemical element