Alanna Madden
February 1, 2021
Grammar Tips
Aluminum and aluminium are variant spellings of the same metallic element. Most of the world uses aluminium, though North American English prefers aluminum.
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Have you ever studied the periodic table of elements and wondered why aluminum doesn’t end with an -ium like magnesium, chromium, or lithium? In fact, there are 71 atomic elements with names ending in -ium, whereas only five elements end with -um.
The use of “-um” over “-ium” has been a source of much debate since the early 19th century. However, the spelling of “aluminum” is isolated to English speakers in the United States and Canada. The rest of the world (often attributed as “British English”) spells the noun as “aluminium.”
Like most scientific feats, the discovery of aluminum was not a sole discovery. The element was researched by many individuals, such as:
Even with these incredible minds combined, the credit of discovering the metallic element is shared amongst several unnamed scientists. Still, none of the founding researchers wound up naming the element “aluminium” or “aluminum” (they often called it “alum” or “alumina”).
The use of “aluminum” emerged thanks to English chemist Sir Humphry Davy, whose 1808 Electrochemical Researches of the Decomposition of the Earths first describes the metal as “alumium.” Davy’s initial term combines Latin alumina with the suffix -ium, although he later switched to using “alumine” in 1810 and “aluminum” in 1812.
Around the same time, Brit. scientist, Thomas Young, wrote a review of Davy’s Elements of Chemical Philosophy, criticizing his recent name for having a “less classical sound.” The review suggested “aluminium” instead, which follows the pattern of Davy’s other element names, such as barium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and strontium.
Since 1812, “aluminium” has been the preferred international spelling, although English from parts of North America didn’t follow suit. Early records of American coinage stem back to 1828, where Noah Webster (co-founder of Merriam Webster’s Dictionary) lists “aluminum” as the standard spelling for American English.
Then, in 1925, The American Chemical Society (ACS) declared “aluminum” as the official American spelling. But they were pretty much on their own. Although the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) didn’t standardize “aluminium” until 1990, the rest of the English-speaking world stood by the latter spelling.
According to the IUPAC, whoever discovers an element has the right to name it (under specific guidelines, that is). Names for novel elements need to meet two criteria:
The second rule is a bit confusing, so here’s a quick breakdown:
So, there you have it. The naming elements are not quite like Latin’s binomial nomenclature and instead use names agreed by IUPAC members.
Elements ending with -ium are the most common on the periodic table of elements, while names ending with “-on” (e.g., carbon, boron, iron) are the next most abundant. The next most common name ending is “-ine,” with the five elements of fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and astatine.
There are several element names without an apparent nomenclature structure, but the reasoning is more obvious than you think. You see, long before the advent of modern science, ancient humans already had names for certain elements. Elements discovered before the common era include copper, lead, gold, silver, iron, carbon, tin, sulfur, mercury, and zinc.
Humans discovered arsenic, antimony, and bismuth after the common era, but their discoveries still took place long ago. Modern observation and isolation of the remaining elements began in 1669 and has since allowed us to predict and create unnaturally occurring, novel elements. For example, plutonium didn’t emerge until the 1940s, while Tennessine appeared in 2009.
According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, the word aluminum (or “aluminium”) is a noun that describes the ‘chemical element of atomic number 13, a light silvery-grey metal’ (“aluminum” 48). The official symbol for aluminum is Al, and you can find it under group 13 on the periodic table.
Aluminum is not an alkaline metal or a transition metal, but it is often listed as a post-transition metal. The designation indicates that an element is made of a soft or brittle material, provides poor mechanical strength, and has a lower melting point than a transition metal. But despite these negative-sounding properties, aluminum is actually pretty cool.
Aluminum is the most abundant metal found in the earth’s crust (via bauxite), and we prize the metal for its lightness, high conductivity, and corrosion-resistant alloys. You’re probably already familiar with aluminum’s valued properties through aluminum foil or soda cans, which are one of the few waste products we can wash and recycle (unlike many plastics or soiled paper products).
The word aluminum (or aluminium) is an early 19th-century noun that combines alumina + ium, where French alumina references an oxide of aluminum, and alumine stems from Latin alumen or alum (the chemical compound containing aluminum).
English writers can spell the noun aluminum as aluminium, but it’s always best to keep your audience in mind. If your target reader is Canadian or American, use “aluminum” (especially for formal settings).
For example:
For all other English speaking countries, be sure to write aluminium instead.
Examples include:
*Note: The second example uses “aluminium” as an adjective to describe artwork made from metal.
If you enjoy learning about American and British English spelling variants, be sure to read The Word Counter’s grammar lessons on topics, such as:
Test how much you’ve learned about aluminum and aluminium with the following multiple-choice questions.
Answers
