Calcium Meaning
/ˈkælsi.əm/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounThe chemical element with atomic number 20: a soft, silvery-white alkaline earth metal which occurs naturally as carbonate in limestone and as silicate in many rocks.
nounThe chemical element (symbol Ca) with atomic number 20: a soft, silvery-white alkaline earth metal which occurs naturally as carbonate in limestone and as silicate in many rocks.
Sentence Examples
Calcium is absent from his diet.
Beryllium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, barium and radium are alkaline earth metals.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Milk is rich in ____, which is essential for strong bones and teeth.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
____ is an important mineral that helps keep your bones strong.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Latin calx Proto-Indo-European *-om Proto-Italic *-om Latin -umder. English -ium English calcium Coined by British chemist Humphry Davy in 1808, from Latin calx (“lime, limestone”) because it occurs in limestone. By surface analysis, calc- + -ium.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis:[…]. The evolutionary precursor of photosynthesis is still under debate, and a new study sheds light. The critical component of the photosynthetic system is the “water-oxidizing complex”, made up of manganese atoms and a calcium atom."
— 2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, archived from the original on 30 Nov 2014:
"“This material has a specific hardness and is chemically very stable. It forms naturally from calcium alone, but bacteria accelerate the transformation into calcium carbonate,” explains Alejandro Montesinos, head of the Decarbonization, Climate Change, and Circular Economy Research Group at Tec de Monterrey and a member of the Institute of Advanced Materials and Sustainable Manufacturing."
— 2024 August 6, Ricardo Treviño, “Self-Healing Concrete Help Buildings Seal Themselves”, in TecScience, archived from the original on 19 Jan 2025:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Milk is rich in ____, which is essential for strong bones and teeth.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
____ is an important mineral that helps keep your bones strong.