Standard Lemma guide

tungsten

noun · 5 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: tŭNG'stən
  • UK, US: /ˈtʌŋstən/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ʌŋstən
  • CMU ARPABET: T AH1 NG S T AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A rare metallic chemical element (symbol W, from Latin wolframium) with an atomic number of 74.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • He then explained that tungsten has the highest melting point, and the highest boiling point, of all known elements.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any of various commercially available alloys principally of tungsten.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • There was a bar of tungsten on the bench, and they were invited to feel how heavy it was.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A light bulb containing tungsten.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

scheelite, calcium tungstate

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable

Topics: chemistry, geography, geology, mineralogy, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

a heavy grey-white metallic element; the pure form is used mainly in electrical applications; it is found in several ores including wolframite and scheelite

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: wolfram, W, atomic number 74

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: metallic element, metal

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Swedish tungsten (“scheelite”), from tung (“heavy”) + sten (“stone”).

Across languages

Translations

98 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: wolfram — chemical element
  • Albanian: volfram — chemical element
  • Arabic: تُنْجِسْتِين (tunjistīn) — chemical element
  • Arabic: وُلْفَرَامِيت (wulfarāmīt) — chemical element
  • Arabic: تَنْجَسْتَن (tanjastan) — chemical element
  • Armenian: վոլֆրամ (volfram) — chemical element
  • Asturian: volframiu — chemical element
  • Azerbaijani: volfram — chemical element
  • Basque: wolfram — chemical element
  • Belarusian: вальфра́м (valʹfrám) — chemical element
  • Breton: tungsten — chemical element
  • Bulgarian: во́лфрам (vólfram) — chemical element
  • Catalan: tungstè — chemical element
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鎢 /钨 (wū) — chemical element
  • Cornish: tungsten — chemical element
  • Czech: wolfram — chemical element
  • Danish: wolfram — chemical element
  • Dutch: wolfraam — chemical element
  • Esperanto: volframo — chemical element
  • Estonian: volfram — chemical element
  • Faroese: wolfram — chemical element
  • Finnish: volframi — chemical element
  • French: tungstène — chemical element
  • French: wolfram — chemical element
  • West-Frisian: wolfraam — chemical element
  • Friulian: tungsten — chemical element
  • Friulian: volframi — chemical element
  • Galician: volframio — chemical element
  • Georgian: ვოლფრამი (volprami) — chemical element
  • German: Wolfram — chemical element
  • Greek: βολφράμιο (volfrámio) — chemical element
  • Hebrew: טונגסטן (túngsten) — chemical element
  • Hebrew: וולפרם (vólfram) — chemical element
  • Hindi: टंगस्टन (ṭaṅgasṭan) — chemical element
  • Hindi: चण्डातु (caṇḍātu) — chemical element
  • Hungarian: volfrám — chemical element
  • Icelandic: þungsteinn — chemical element
  • Ido: wolframo — chemical element
  • Indonesian: wolfram — chemical element
  • Irish: tungstan — chemical element
  • Italian: tungsteno — chemical element
  • Italian: wolframio — chemical element
  • Japanese: タングステン (tangusuten) — chemical element
  • Kashubian: wòlfram — chemical element
  • Kazakh: вольфрам (volfram) — chemical element
  • Khmer: តង់ស្តែន (tɑngstaen) — chemical element
  • Korean: 텅스텐 (teongseuten) — chemical element
  • Korean: 볼프람 (bolpeuram) — chemical element
  • Korean: 중석 (jungseok) — chemical element
  • Korean: 월프람 (wolpeuram) — chemical element
  • Latin: wolframium — chemical element
  • Latvian: volframs — chemical element
  • Lithuanian: volframas — chemical element
  • Luxembourgish: Wolfram — chemical element
  • Macedonian: волфра́м (volfrám) — chemical element
  • Malay: siamang — chemical element
  • Malay: tungsten — chemical element
  • Malay: wolfram — chemical element
  • Maltese: tangstinn — chemical element
  • Manx: tungsten — chemical element
  • Māori: tangitene — chemical element
  • Mongolian: больфрам (bolʹfram) — chemical element
  • Norwegian Bokmål: wolfram — chemical element
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: wolfram — chemical element
  • Occitan: tungstèn — chemical element
  • Persian: تنگستن (tangesten) — chemical element
  • Persian: ولفرام (volfrâm) — chemical element
  • Polish: wolfram — chemical element
  • Portuguese: tungstênio — chemical element
  • Portuguese: tungsténio — chemical element
  • Portuguese: volfrâmio — chemical element
  • Romanian: tungsten — chemical element
  • Romanian: wolfram — chemical element
  • Russian: вольфра́м (volʹfrám) — chemical element
  • Santali: ᱴᱟᱸᱜᱟᱥᱴᱟᱱ (ṭãgasṭan) — chemical element
  • Scottish Gaelic: tungstan — chemical element
  • Serbo-Croatian: волфрам — chemical element
  • Serbo-Croatian: volfram — chemical element
  • Slovak: wolfram — chemical element
  • Slovene: volfram — chemical element
  • Spanish: wolframio — chemical element
  • Spanish: tungsteno — chemical element
  • Spanish: volframio — chemical element
  • Swedish: volfram — chemical element
  • Tajik: вольфрам (volfram) — chemical element
  • Tamil: தங்ஸ்தென் (taṅsteṉ) — chemical element
  • Telugu: తుంగస్థము (tuṅgasthamu) — chemical element
  • Thai: ทังสเตน (tang-sà-dteen) — chemical element
  • Thai: วุลแฟรม (wulfraem) — chemical element
  • Turkish: volfram — chemical element
  • Turkish: tungsten — chemical element
  • Ukrainian: вольфра́м (volʹfrám) — chemical element
  • Uyghur: ۋولفرام (wolfram) — chemical element
  • Uzbek: vol’fram — chemical element
  • Uzbek: вольфрам — chemical element
  • Vietnamese: vonfam — chemical element
  • Volapük: volframin — chemical element
  • Welsh: twngsten — chemical element