germanium

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A brittle, crystalline, gray-white metalloid element, widely used as a semiconductor, as an alloying agent and catalyst, and in certain optical glasses. Atomic number 32; atomic weight 72.64; melting point 938.3°C; boiling point 2,833°C; specific gravity 5.323 (at 25°C); valence 2, 4. cross-reference: Periodic Table.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The discovery of this chemical element in 1885 constituted the third verification of Mendelejeff's prediction that elements, unknown when his periodic law was pointed out, would later be discovered having approximately certain atomic weights and certain properties which he indicated. Germanium has been found in argyrodite from Saxony and also in minerals from Bolivia.
• noun Chemical symbol, Ge; specific gravity, 5.469; atomic weight, 72.3. An element discovered in 1885 by Winkler in the mineral argyrodite, which is a sulphid of germanium and silver.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Chem.) A rare element, discovered in 1885 in a silver ore (argyrodite) at Freiberg. It is a brittle, silver-white metal, chemically intermediate between the metals and nonmetals, resembles tin, and is in general identical with the predicted ekasilicon. Symbol Ge. Atomic number 32. Atomic weight 72.59. It has excellent semiconductor properties, and is used in transistors and diodes.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A nonmetallic chemical element (symbol Ge) with an atomic number of 32.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a brittle grey crystalline element that is a semiconducting metalloid (resembling silicon) used in transistors; occurs in germanite and argyrodite