Technical English – Chemical Elements

This time we’ll be talking about chemical elements. Maybe it’s said too much, we’ll just list them all along with their pronunciation so that you know how to pronounce them correctly.

This article comes from issue 2 (1/2023) of Your American English Magazine. You’ll find much more interesting stuff there, I’m sure.

As you know, chemical elements are organized in the so-called periodic table. Each element has its unique symbol and atomic number. The atomic number tells us how many protons there are in the nucleus of that particular element. Usually, you can find much more information about each element in the periodic table, but for our purposes and to keep things tidy, let’s limit ourselves to these two pieces of information, so the element symbol and the atomic number. This is what you can see in the periodic table below.

So, if you look at the very first element, which is hydrogen, you can see its symbol H and atomic number 1. For oxygen it’s respectively O and 8. So now that you know how to find the elements in the periodic table, let’s have a look at them one by one. In the table below you can see the atomic number in the first column, the symbol of the element in the second column, its name in the third column and the pronunciation of its name in the last column.

So, here are the chemical elements:

atomic number	symbol	name	pronunciation
1	H	Hydrogen	ˈhaɪdrədʒən
2	He	Helium	ˈhiːlijəm
3	Li	Lithium	ˈlɪθijəm
4	Be	Beryllium	bəˈrɪlijəm
5	B	Boron	ˈboɚˌɑːn
6	C	Carbon	ˈkɑɚbən
7	N	Nitrogen	ˈnaɪtrədʒən
8	O	Oxygen	ˈɑːksɪdʒən
9	F	Fluorine	ˈflʊəriːn
10	Ne	Neon	ˈniːɑːn
11	Na	Sodium	ˈsoʊdijəm
12	Mg	Magnesium	mæɡˈniːzijəm
13	Al	Aluminum	əˈluːmənəm
14	Si	Silicon	ˈsɪlɪkən
15	P	Phosphorus	ˈfɑːsfərəs
16	S	Sulfur	ˈsʌlfɚ
17	Cl	Chlorine	ˈkloɚˌiːn
18	Ar	Argon	ˈɑɚˌgɑːn
19	K	Potassium	pəˈtæsijəm
20	Ca	Calcium	ˈkælsijəm
21	Sc	Scandium	ˈskændijəm
22	Ti	Titanium	taɪˈteɪnijəm
23	V	Vanadium	vəˈneɪdijəm
24	Cr	Chromium	ˈkroʊmijəm
25	Mn	Manganese	ˈmæŋɡəniːz
26	Fe	Iron	ˈajɚn
27	Co	Cobalt	ˈkoʊˌbɑːlt
28	Ni	Nickel	ˈnɪkəl
29	Cu	Copper	ˈkɑːpɚ
30	Zn	Zinc	zɪŋk
31	Ga	Gallium	ˈɡælijəm
32	Ge	Germanium	ʤɚˈmeɪnijəm
33	As	Arsenic	ˈɑɚsənɪk
34	Se	Selenium	səˈliːnijəm
35	Br	Bromine	ˈbroʊmiːn
36	Kr	Krypton	ˈkrɪpˌtɑːn
37	Rb	Rubidium	rʊˈbɪdijəm
38	Sr	Strontium	ˈstrɑːnʃijəm
39	Y	Yttrium	ˈɪtrijəm
40	Zr	Zirconium	zɚˈkoʊnijəm
41	Nb	Niobium	naɪˈoʊbijəm
42	Mo	Molybdenum	məˈlɪbdənəm
43	Tc	Technetium	tekˈniːʃɪjəm
44	Ru	Ruthenium	ruːˈθiːnijəm
45	Rh	Rhodium	ˈroʊdijəm
46	Pd	Palladium	pəˈleɪdijəm
47	Ag	Silver	ˈsɪlvɚ
48	Cd	Cadmium	ˈkædmijəm
49	In	Indium	ˈɪndijəm
50	Sn	Tin	tɪn
51	Sb	Antimony	ˈæntəˌmoʊni
52	Te	Tellurium	teˈlʊrijəm
53	I	Iodine	ˈajəˌdaɪn
54	Xe	Xenon	ˈziːˌnɑːn
55	Cs	Caesium	ˈsiːzijəm
56	Ba	Barium	ˈberijəm
57	La	Lanthanum	ˈlænθənəm
58	Ce	Cerium	ˈsɪrijəm
59	Pr	Praseodymium	ˌpreɪzijoʊˈdɪmijəm
60	Nd	Neodymium	ˌniːjoʊˈdɪmijəm
61	Pm	Promethium	prəˈmiːθijəm
62	Sm	Samarium	səˈmerijəm
63	Eu	Europium	jʊrˈoʊpijəm
64	Gd	Gadolinium	ˌɡædəˈlɪnijəm
65	Tb	Terbium	ˈtɚbijəm
66	Dy	Dysprosium	dɪsˈproʊzijəm
67	Ho	Holmium	ˈhoʊlmijəm
68	Er	Erbium	ɚbijəm
69	Tm	Thulium	ˈθuːlijəm
70	Yb	Ytterbium	ɪˈtɚbijəm
71	Lu	Lutetium	luːˈtiːʃijəm
72	Hf	Hafnium	ˈhæfnijəm
73	Ta	Tantalum	ˈtæntələm
74	W	Tungsten	ˈtʌŋstən
75	Re	Rhenium	ˈriːnijəm
76	Os	Osmium	ˈɑːzmijəm
77	Ir	Iridium	ɪˈrɪdijəm
78	Pt	Platinum	ˈplætnəm
79	Au	Gold	ɡoʊld
80	Hg	Mercury	ˈmɚkjəri
81	Tl	Thallium	ˈθælijəm
82	Pb	Lead	led
83	Bi	Bismuth	ˈbɪzməθ
84	Po	Polonium	pəˈloʊnijəm
85	At	Astatine	ˈæstətiːn
86	Rn	Radon	ˈreɪˌdɑːn
87	Fr	Francium	ˈfrænsijəm
88	Ra	Radium	ˈreɪdijəm
89	Ac	Actinium	ækˈtɪnijəm
90	Th	Thorium	ˈθɑːrijəm
91	Pa	Protactinium	ˌproʊtækˈtɪnijəm
92	U	Uranium	juˈreɪnijəm
93	Np	Neptunium	nepˈtuːnijəm
94	Pu	Plutonium	pluːˈtoʊnijəm
95	Am	Americium	ˌæməˈrɪsijəm
96	Cm	Curium	ˈkjʊrijəm
97	Bk	Berkelium	ˈbɚklijəm
98	Cf	Californium	ˌkælɪˈfoɚnijəm
99	Es	Einsteinium	aɪnˈstaɪnijəm
100	Fm	Fermium	ˈfɚmijəm
101	Md	Mendelevium	mendəˈleɪvijəm
102	No	Nobelium	noʊˈbelijəm
103	Lr	Lawrencium	lɑːˈrensijəm
104	Rf	Rutherfordium	ˌrʌðɚˈfoɚdijəm
105	Db	Dubnium	ˈdəbnijəm
106	Sg	Seaborgium	ˈsiːˈboɚɡijəm
107	Bh	Bohrium	ˈbɑːrijəm
108	Hs	Hassium	ˈhæsijəm
109	Mt	Meitnerium	maɪtˈnɪrijəm
110	Ds	Darmstadtium	ˈdɑɚmʃtætijəm
111	Rg	Roentgenium	rʌntˈɡenijəm
112	Cn	Copernicium	ˌkoʊpɚˈnɪsijəm
113	Nh	Nihonium	nɪˈhoʊnijəm
114	Fl	Flerovium	fləˈroʊvijəm
115	Mc	Moscovium	mɑːskoʊvijəm
116	Lv	Livermorium	ˌlɪvɚˈmɑːrijəm
117	Ts	Tennessine	ˈtenɪsiːn
118	Og	Oganesson	ˌ ɑːɡəˈnesɑːn

Now you’ll know how to pronounce the names of all chemical elements, some of which are not pronounced in the most obvious way.