Arsenic

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɑː(ɹ).sə.nɪk/

Definitions

1. A toxic chemical element used in pesticides and alloys, historically employed as a poison
2. A highly poisonous metallic element commonly used in insecticides, herbicides, and historically as a lethal agent in homicides
3. A brittle semimetallic substance that is intensely toxic to humans and animals, featured in various industrial applications and criminal poisonings

Etymology: Ancient Greek speakers called the mineral "arsenikon," meaning "yellow" or "golden" pigment, and the name had nothing to do with poison. The Greek word was itself a loan from a Semitic language, and its ultimate source lies in the Iranian world. Old Median "zaraniyaka" meant "golden," a close relative of Persian "zar," "gold," and the same Proto-Indo-European root gave Sanskrit "hiranya," also "gold." Through Aramaic and Syriac, the word reached Arabic as "az-zarnikh," and the Greeks and Romans borrowed it back as "arsenicum." The name was then reshaped by a bit of wordplay. Greek "arsenikos" meant "potent" or "virile," and the resemblance to "arsenikon" likely encouraged speakers to associate the two, which fits the mineral's notorious potency. Arsenic's toxicity was well known in the Middle Ages, and the word passed into Middle English as "arsenik" through Middle French, the form that gives English its spelling.