Zirconic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to or containing zirconium, a hard grey metallic element used in nuclear reactors and ceramics
2. Describing a substance that includes zirconium, the lustrous transition metal valued for its corrosion resistance
3. Containing or derived from zirconium, a chemical element often found in the mineral zircon and used industrially

Etymology: Zirconic is about as plain as English chemical adjectives get: it is simply "zircon" with the adjective-making ending "-ic" attached. The ending has a long ancestry, passing from Latin "-icus" through Old French "-ique" into Middle English as "-ik" before settling into its modern spelling. Its suffix history is far older than the word it sits on. The "zircon" part is the more interesting half. The mineral's name appears to come from an older word for a gemstone, and it was the name of the mineral long before anyone knew it contained a metal. Zirconium was identified only in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and the adjective was formed to describe compounds containing that element, a sense that comes from the modern chemistry rather than from the mineral's old lore.