aluminium
US spellingaluminum
- 1A light metal with a silvery colour, obtained from bauxite: the chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13.
The frame is made of aluminium, so the whole bike weighs less than nine kilos.
Producing aluminium from bauxite uses huge amounts of electricity.
Note
Two spellings were in play from the start: Humphry Davy used the shorter aluminum in an 1812 textbook, while this longer form, Latin alūmen with the -ium ending, had already been proposed in 1811 and was urged in a review of his book. Aluminium is now the Commonwealth spelling and the preferred IUPAC name, so it is the safe choice in British and scientific writing; aluminum belongs to North American English.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Humphry Davy used aluminum in his chemistry textbook published in 1812. acs.org
- Aluminium derives from Latin alūmen with the suffix -ium. en.wiktionary.org
- The spelling aluminium had been proposed by 1811. en.wikipedia.org
- A review of Davy's book advocated aluminium instead of aluminum. en.wikipedia.org
- Aluminium is the IUPAC name. cameo.mfa.org
- 2Aircraft and other machines, referred to by the metal they are partly or wholly built from.
By nine o'clock there was enough aluminium on the apron to fill every gate twice over.
The mechanics worked through the night to get the damaged aluminium back into the air.
Similaraircraft
Note
Naming machines by the metal they are built from is a piece of slang: an apron with plenty of aluminium on it is crowded with planes, not scrap. Because the same word names the metal itself, the joke only lands where listeners already share the context; in neutral writing, aircraft or planes says the same thing plainly.
Less common meaning
- 3An individual atom of the element aluminium.
Practice
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Origin
First recorded in 1811, a year before aluminum, which Humphry Davy coined in 1812. It is formed from Latin alūmen + -ium.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Aluminium is recorded in January 1811, before the recorded coinage of aluminum in 1812. en.wikipedia.org
- Aluminum was coined in 1812. en.wiktionary.org
- Aluminium is formed from Latin alūmen and -ium. en.wiktionary.org