curium

See also: Curium and -curium

English

WOTD – 11 February 2026

Cm
Atomic number 96
curium

Classification data

Period	7
Group	3
Block	f-block
Class	actinide

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Next: berkelium (Bk) →

English Wikipedia article on Curium

Wikidata has a Lexeme related to:

curium (L18291)

A sample of curium in a sealed container.

A 1903 photograph of the chemists and physicists Pierre and Marie Curie, whom the chemical element curium was named in honour of.

Etymology

Etymology tree

Old French éscueriebor.

French Curiebor.

English Curie

Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós

Proto-Italic *-ijos

Proto-Italic *-ios

Old Latin -ios

Latin -iusnom.

Latin -iumlbor.

English -ium

English curium

From Curie +‎ -ium (suffix forming names of metallic elements),^[1] coined by the American scientists Glenn T. Seaborg (1912–1999), Ralph A. James (1920–1973), and Albert Ghiorso (1915–2010), who synthesized the element in 1944 and named it in honour of Pierre Curie (1859–1906) and Marie Skłodowska Curie (1867–1934) who, with Henri Becquerel, were awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics for discoveries in radioactivity.^[2]

Pronunciation

enPR: kūr'ēəm, IPA^(key): /ˈkjʊə.ɹi.əm/, /ˈkjɔː.ɹi.əm/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkjʊ.ɹi.əm/
Audio (General American): (file)
Rhymes: -ʊəɹiəm, -ɔːɹiəm
Hyphenation: cur‧i‧um

Noun

curium (uncountable)

(chemistry) A radioactive and highly fissile, silver-grey, metallic, transuranic chemical element (symbol Cm) with an atomic number of 96, which is artificially produced in a particle accelerator.
- 1946 November 18 (date delivered), Glenn T[heodore] Seaborg, Plutonium and Other Transuranium Elements (MUC-1780; MDDC (Manhattan District Declassification); no. 505), Oak Ridge, Tenn.: United States Atomic Energy Commission, →OCLC, page 8:
  Curium was the third transuranium element to be discovered. The first isotope of this element was the isotope, Cm²⁴², which was identified by G. T. Seaborg, R. A. James and A. Ghiorso at the Metallurgical Laboratory as the result of its production in the Berkeley cyclotron […] The availability of this isotope of curium made it possible to study the chemical properties of this element by the use of the tracer technique. Extensive investigations have led to the conclusion that curium probably exists exclusively in the III oxidation state in aqueous solution.
- 1948 January 21, S[tanley] G[erald] Thompson, R[alph] A[rthur] James, L. O. Morgan, The Tracer Chemistry of Americium and Curium (AECD-1907), Oak Ridge, Tenn.: Technical Information Division, Oak Ridge Directed Operations, United States Atomic Energy Commission, →OCLC, page 1:
  The chemical properties of americium and curium may be summarized in the statement that they bear a striking resemblance to the rare earth elements, particularly those of atomic numbers 60 to 64. […] Thus the chemical properties of americium and curium support the view that these elements are members of an actinide series in which the 5f electron shell is being filled just as the 4f shell is being filled in the rare earth series. Curium is believed to possess seven 5f electrons just as gadolinium possesses seven 4f electrons.
- 1994, Glenn T[heodore] Seaborg, “Alchemy on an Industrial Scale: Plutonium from Hanford and a Pair of New Elements: January 1, 1945 – July 16, 1945”, in Ronald L. Kathren, Jerry B. Gough, Gary T. Benefiel, editors, The Plutonium Story: The Journals of Professor Glenn T. Seaborg 1939–1946, Columbus, Oh.: Battelle Press, →ISBN, footnote 10, page 626:
  The modern figure for the half-life of curium-242 is 163 days—more than five months.
1. (countable) An atom of this element.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

chemical element with an atomic number of 96

Afrikaans: curium (af)
Albanian: kirium
Arabic: كُورِيُوم m (kūriyūm)
Armenian: կյուրիում (kyurium)
Asturian: curiu (ast) m
Basque: kurioa
Belarusian: кю́рый m (kjúryj)
Breton: kuriom (br)
Bulgarian: кю́рий m (kjúrij)
Catalan: curi (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 鋦 / 锔 (zh) (jú)
Cornish: curyum
Czech: curium (cs) n
Danish: curium (da) n
Dutch: curium (nl) n
Esperanto: kuriumo (eo)
Estonian: kuurium (et)
Faroese: kurium n
Finnish: curium (fi)
French: curium (fr) m
Frisian:
West Frisian: curium
Friulian: curi
Galician: curio (gl) m
Georgian: კიურიუმი (ḳiuriumi)
German: Curium (de) n
Greek: κιούριο (el) n (kioúrio)
Hebrew: קיוריום (qyuryum)
Hungarian: kűrium (hu)
Icelandic: kúrín (is)
Indonesian: kurium (id)
Irish: ciúiriam
Italian: curio (it) m
Japanese: キュリウム (ja) (kyuriumu)
Kashubian: czur m
Korean: 퀴륨 (ko) (kwiryum)
Latin: curium (la)
Latvian: kirijs
Lithuanian: kiuris (lt)
Luxembourgish: Kurium
Macedonian: кириум m (kirium)
Malay: kurium
Maltese: kurjum
Manx: curium
Mongolian: кюри (mn) (kjüri)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: curium n

Nynorsk: curium (nn) n
Persian: کوریم (kuriom)
Polish: kiur (pl) m
Portuguese: cúrio (pt) m
Romanian: curiu (ro) n
Russian: кю́рий (ru) m (kjúrij)
Scottish Gaelic: cùriam
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: кириj m, кириjум m

Latin: kirij (sh) m, kirijum m
Slovak: curium n
Slovene: kirij (sl) m inan
Spanish: curio (es) m
Swedish: curium (sv) n
Tajik: кюрий (kyuriy)
Tamil: கியூரியம் (ta) (kiyūriyam)
Thai: คูเรียม (th) (kuu-rîiam)
Turkish: küriyum (tr)
Ukrainian: кю́рій m (kjúrij)
Uzbek: кюрий (uz) (kyuriy), kyuriy (uz)
Vietnamese: curi
Volapük: kurin (vo)
Welsh: curiwm

References

^ “curium, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “curium, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
^ Glenn T[heodore] Seaborg, Ralph A[rthur] James, Albert Ghiorso ([1949]), “The New Element Curium (Atomic Number 96)”, in National Nuclear Energy Series (PPR (Plutonium Project Record); 14B; The Transuranium Elements: Research Papers; paper no. 22.2)‎^[1], Washington, D.C.: Office of Scientific and Technical Information, United States Department of Energy, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 September 2008, pages 12–13:
As the name for the element of atomic number 96 we should like to propose "curium", with symbol Cm. The evidence indicates that element 96 contains seven 5f electrons and is thus analogous to the element gadolinium, with its seven 4f electrons in the regular rare earth series. On this basis element 96 is named after the Curies in a manner analogous to the naming of gadolinium, in which the chemist [Johan] Gadolin was honored.

Afrikaans

Afrikaans Wikipedia has an article on:

curium

Wikipedia ^af

Chemical element ^(edit)

Cm
Atomic number 96
curium

Classification data

Period	7
Group	3
Block	f-block
Class	actinide

Previous: ← amerikium (Am)

Next: berkelium (Bk) →

Noun

curium (uncountable)

curium

Czech

Chemical element ^(edit)

Cm
Atomic number 96
curium

Classification data

Period	7
Group	3
Block	f-block
Class	actinide

Previous: ← americium (Am)

Next: berkelium (Bk) →

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈkɪrɪjum]
Hyphenation: cu‧rium

Noun

curium n

curium (transuranic chemical element with an atomic number of 96)

Declension

Declension of curium (semisoft neuter foreign)

	singular	plural
nominative	curium	curia
genitive	curia	curií
dative	curiu	curiím
accusative	curium	curia
vocative	curium	curia
locative	curiu	curiích
instrumental	curiem	curii

Danish

Danish Wikipedia has an article on:

curium

Wikipedia ^da

Chemical element ^(edit)

Cm
Atomic number 96
curium

Classification data

Period	7
Group	3
Block	f-block
Class	actinide

Previous: ← americium (Am)

Next: berkelium (Bk) →