Chemical Element Abbreviations
118 abbreviations · part of Science & Engineering Abbreviations
The one- and two-letter symbols for all 118 chemical elements, as standardized by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). A symbol always starts with a capital letter, and any second letter is lowercase, so Co is cobalt while CO is carbon monoxide. Several symbols come from Latin, Greek or German names, such as Fe for ferrum (iron), Na for natrium (sodium) and W for wolfram (tungsten). Each entry gives the atomic number, the element's place in the periodic table, a notable property or use and the origin of its name and symbol.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ac | Actinium | Actinium (element 89) gives its name to the actinide series of 15 elements from actinium to lawrencium. |
| Ag | Silver | No metal conducts electricity or heat better than silver, element 47, which also reflects more visible light than any other metal. |
| Al | Aluminum | The most abundant metal in Earth's crust, about 8% by mass, aluminum (atomic number 13) is light, protected from corrosion by its own oxide skin, and endlessly… |
| Am | Americium | Americium (element 95) is the synthetic element found in many ordinary homes: a fraction of a microgram of americium-241 inside an ionization smoke detector ionizes the… |
| Ar | Argon | Argon makes up about 0.93% of Earth's atmosphere, making this noble gas (element 18) the third most abundant gas in air after nitrogen and oxygen. |
| As | Arsenic | Arsenic (element 33) is a metalloid best known as a poison: arsenic trioxide is tasteless and was so popular with murderers that it was called "inheritance powder."… |
| At | Astatine | The rarest naturally occurring element, astatine (element 85) exists in Earth's crust only fleetingly, estimated at under a gram at any moment, as it forms and decays… |
| Au | Gold | Gold (atomic number 79) is the precious metal of jewelry, coins and central bank reserves, prized because it never tarnishes and is extremely malleable: a single gram… |
| B | Boron | A metalloid with atomic number 5, boron goes into borosilicate laboratory glass, fiberglass insulation, laundry borax and the neodymium-iron-boron magnets used in… |
| Ba | Barium | Patients drink a chalky barium sulfate suspension, the "barium meal," so that X-rays can outline the digestive tract; barium itself (element 56) is a reactive alkaline… |
| Be | Beryllium | Light, stiff and transparent to X-rays, beryllium (element 4, an alkaline earth metal) is used for X-ray tube windows, aerospace parts and the gold-coated mirror… |
| Bh | Bohrium | Bohrium (element 107) is a synthetic transactinide in group 7, below rhenium, first made by fusing bismuth-209 with chromium-54 nuclei. |
| Bi | Bismuth | Bismuth (element 83) is a brittle, pinkish-silver metal whose crystals grow in iridescent, stair-stepped shapes. |
| Bk | Berkelium | Berkelium (element 97) is a synthetic actinide produced only in tiny quantities in high-flux reactors. |
| Br | Bromine | One of only two elements that are liquid at room temperature (the other is mercury), bromine (atomic number 35) is a dense, red-brown halogen that gives off choking… |
| C | Carbon | Element 6 forms the backbone of every organic molecule, from sugars and proteins to plastics and fuels. |
| Ca | Calcium | The most abundant metal in the human body, calcium (atomic number 20) stiffens bones and teeth as calcium phosphate and triggers muscle contraction and nerve signaling. |
| Cd | Cadmium | Cadmium (element 48) is a soft, toxic heavy metal once common in rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries, bright yellow and red artists' pigments, and corrosion-resistant… |
| Ce | Cerium | The most abundant of the rare earth elements, cerium (element 58) is about as common in Earth's crust as copper. |
| Cf | Californium | Californium (atomic number 98) is one of the strongest neutron emitters known: a microgram of californium-252 releases more than two million neutrons per second. |
| Cl | Chlorine | A yellow-green, choking halogen gas with atomic number 17, chlorine is one of the most widely used industrial chemicals. |
| Cm | Curium | Curium (atomic number 96) is an intensely radioactive synthetic metal. |
| Cn | Copernicium | Copernicium (atomic number 112) sits below mercury in group 12, and relativistic effects on its electrons are predicted to make it unusually volatile. |
| Co | Cobalt | A hard, magnetic transition metal with atomic number 27, cobalt is a key ingredient of lithium-ion battery cathodes, heat-resistant superalloys for jet engines, and the… |
| Cr | Chromium | A hard, lustrous transition metal with atomic number 24, chromium gives stainless steel its corrosion resistance (at least 10.5% by weight) and provides the mirror… |
| Cs | Cesium | Cesium, atomic number 55, is a soft, gold-tinged alkali metal that melts at about 28.5 °C and explodes on contact with water. |
| Cu | Copper | Copper (atomic number 29) conducts electricity better than any metal except silver, so about half of all copper goes into wiring, motors and electronics. |
| Db | Dubnium | Dubnium (element 105) is a synthetic, radioactive transactinide in group 5, below tantalum. |
| Ds | Darmstadtium | Darmstadtium (atomic number 110) is a superheavy element expected to behave like platinum, the metal above it in group 10. |
| Dy | Dysprosium | Electric vehicle motors and wind turbine generators rely on dysprosium (element 66), added to neodymium magnets so they keep their strength at high operating… |
| Er | Erbium | Erbium (element 68) underpins long-distance internet traffic: erbium-doped fiber amplifiers boost light signals near 1,550 nanometers in undersea and terrestrial… |
| Es | Einsteinium | Einsteinium (element 99) was first found in the radioactive debris of "Ivy Mike," the first full-scale hydrogen bomb test, at Enewetak Atoll in November 1952. |
| Eu | Europium | Red and blue light from many fluorescent-lamp, LED and older television phosphors comes from europium (atomic number 63), the most reactive lanthanide, which oxidizes… |
| F | Fluorine | The most electronegative and most chemically reactive element, fluorine (atomic number 9) is a pale yellow halogen gas that attacks glass and ignites many metals. |
| Fe | Iron | Iron (atomic number 26) is by far the most used metal, mainly as steel, an alloy of iron with a little carbon. |
| Fl | Flerovium | Flerovium (atomic number 114) is a superheavy element in group 14, below lead, first reported by the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna with Lawrence… |
| Fm | Fermium | Fermium (atomic number 100) is the heaviest element that can be built up by neutron capture in a reactor; beyond it, very short-lived isotopes block further neutron… |
| Fr | Francium | Francium (element 87) is the most unstable of the naturally occurring elements: its longest-lived isotope, francium-223, has a half-life of about 22 minutes. |
| Ga | Gallium | Gallium (atomic number 31) melts at about 29.8 °C, so a piece will turn liquid in a person's hand. |
| Gd | Gadolinium | Gadolinium (element 64) has seven unpaired electrons, making it strongly paramagnetic; chelated gadolinium compounds are the standard contrast agents for MRI scans. |
| Ge | Germanium | A grayish metalloid with atomic number 32, germanium was the semiconductor in the first transistor, built at Bell Labs in 1947, before silicon took over. |
| H | Hydrogen | Element 1 and the lightest of all, with a single proton and usually no neutron in its nucleus. |
| He | Helium | Noble gas with atomic number 2 and the lowest boiling point of any element, about 4.2 kelvins (-269 °C); it cannot be frozen at normal pressure at all. |
| Hf | Hafnium | Chemically almost identical to zirconium, hafnium (element 72) differs by absorbing neutrons strongly, so it is used in control rods, notably for naval reactors. |
| Hg | Mercury | The only metal that is liquid at room temperature, mercury (element 80) was long used in thermometers, barometers, fluorescent lamps and dental amalgam fillings. |
| Ho | Holmium | No naturally occurring element has a higher magnetic moment than holmium (atomic number 67), so it is used for pole pieces that concentrate the fields of the strongest… |
| Hs | Hassium | Hassium (atomic number 108) is a synthetic element in group 8, below osmium. |
| I | Iodine | Iodine (atomic number 53) is a lustrous blue-black halogen that turns into violet vapor when warmed. |
| In | Indium | Every touchscreen depends on indium (atomic number 49), a soft, silvery metal consumed mainly as indium tin oxide, the transparent conductor coating LCD and OLED panels… |
| Ir | Iridium | Iridium (atomic number 77) is the most corrosion-resistant metal and the second densest element. |
| K | Potassium | Potassium is element 19, a soft alkali metal that reacts with water vigorously enough to ignite the released hydrogen with a lilac flame. |
| Kr | Krypton | Krypton is a rare noble gas (atomic number 36) present at about one part per million in air. |
| La | Lanthanum | First of the lanthanide series, lanthanum (atomic number 57) lends its name to the 15 elements from La to lutetium that fill the 4f electron shell. |
| Li | Lithium | The lightest metal and the least dense solid element, lithium (atomic number 3) is an alkali metal soft enough to cut with a knife. |
| Lr | Lawrencium | Lawrencium (element 103) is the last member of the actinide series, first made by bombarding californium with boron ions. |
| Lu | Lutetium | Last and densest of the lanthanides, lutetium (atomic number 71) is best known for a medical isotope: lutetium-177, attached to targeting molecules, delivers radiation… |
| Lv | Livermorium | Livermorium (atomic number 116) is a superheavy element in group 16, below polonium, made by fusing curium-248 with calcium-48 ions. |
| Mc | Moscovium | Moscovium (element 115) is a synthetic element in group 15, below bismuth, created by bombarding americium with calcium-48 ions. |
| Md | Mendelevium | Mendelevium (element 101) was the first element identified one atom at a time: in 1955 a Berkeley team bombarded a nearly invisible speck of einsteinium with alpha… |
| Mg | Magnesium | Essential mineral for nerve conduction, muscle contraction and heart rhythm, with a typical serum range of about 1.7 to 2.2 mg/dL. |
| Mn | Manganese | Steelmaking consumes most of the world's manganese (element 25), which removes sulfur and oxygen from molten iron and adds strength and hardness. |
| Mo | Molybdenum | With a melting point of about 2,623 °C, molybdenum (element 42) is alloyed into high-strength steels for tools, pipelines and engine parts. |
| Mt | Meitnerium | Meitnerium (element 109) is a synthetic element made only a few atoms at a time; its isotopes decay within seconds, so its chemistry is unexplored, though it is… |
| N | Nitrogen | Nitrogen, atomic number 7, makes up about 78% of Earth's atmosphere by volume as unreactive N2 gas. |
| Na | Sodium | Sodium is the soft alkali metal with atomic number 11 that reacts violently with water. |
| Nb | Niobium | Superconducting magnets in MRI scanners and particle accelerators are wound from niobium-titanium wire, the best-known high-tech use of niobium (atomic number 41). |
| Nd | Neodymium | The strongest permanent magnets on the market, found in electric vehicle motors, wind turbine generators, hard drives, speakers and earbuds, are made from an alloy of… |
| Ne | Neon | A noble gas with atomic number 10, neon glows a vivid reddish orange when an electric current passes through it at low pressure, the effect behind classic neon signs. |
| Nh | Nihonium | Nihonium (element 113) is the first element discovered in Asia, credited to Japan's RIKEN laboratory. |
| Ni | Nickel | Nickel, element 28, resists corrosion and is mostly used in stainless steel, while a growing share goes into the cathodes of high-energy electric vehicle batteries. |
| No | Nobelium | Nobelium (atomic number 102) is a synthetic actinide whose discovery was contested for decades among laboratories in Sweden, the United States and the Soviet Union. |
| Np | Neptunium | Neptunium (element 93) was the first transuranium element ever made. |
| O | Oxygen | Oxygen (element 8) is the most abundant element in Earth's crust by mass, roughly 46%, mostly bound in silicate rocks, and it makes up about 21% of the air. |
| Og | Oganesson | Oganesson (atomic number 118) is the heaviest element yet made and the last in the seventh row of the periodic table. |
| Os | Osmium | Osmium (element 76) is the densest naturally occurring element, at about 22.59 grams per cubic centimeter, narrowly ahead of iridium. |
| P | Phosphorus | Element 15 is essential to life: phosphate groups form the backbone of DNA and RNA and carry energy in ATP, and calcium phosphate hardens bones and teeth. |
| Pa | Protactinium | Protactinium (element 91) is a rare, toxic and radioactive actinide found in tiny amounts in uranium ores. |
| Pb | Lead | Lead (atomic number 82) is a dense, soft, gray metal whose largest use is in the lead-acid batteries that start most cars. |
| Pd | Palladium | Gasoline-engine catalytic converters consume most of the world's palladium, element 46, a platinum-group metal that can absorb hundreds of times its own volume of… |
| Pm | Promethium | The only lanthanide with no stable isotopes, promethium (atomic number 61) exists in nature only as tiny traces in uranium ores. |
| Po | Polonium | Intensely radioactive, polonium (atomic number 84) emits alpha particles so energetically that a small sample glows and warms itself. |
| Pr | Praseodymium | Usually alloyed with neodymium in high-strength permanent magnets for motors and wind turbines, praseodymium (atomic number 59) is a soft lanthanide. |
| Pt | Platinum | A dense, silvery precious metal, platinum (element 78) is valued for resisting corrosion and for catalyzing reactions. |
| Pu | Plutonium | Plutonium (atomic number 94) is a radioactive actinide made in nuclear reactors. |
| Ra | Radium | Radium (atomic number 88) is a radioactive alkaline earth metal whose compounds glow faintly. |
| Rb | Rubidium | An alkali metal with atomic number 37, rubidium melts at about 39 °C and ignites spontaneously in air. |
| Re | Rhenium | Jet engine turbine blades are the main destination for rhenium (atomic number 75), one of the rarest elements in Earth's crust and one with an exceptionally high… |
| Rf | Rutherfordium | Rutherfordium (atomic number 104) is the first transactinide element, sitting below hafnium in group 4. |
| Rg | Roentgenium | Roentgenium (element 111) is a synthetic element in group 11, below copper, silver and gold, though its isotopes vanish too quickly for chemists to test whether it… |
| Rh | Rhodium | One of the rarest and most expensive precious metals, rhodium (atomic number 45) is mainly used in catalytic converters, where it reduces nitrogen oxides to harmless… |
| Rn | Radon | Radon (atomic number 86) is a colorless, odorless radioactive noble gas that seeps from uranium-bearing soil and rock and can accumulate in basements. |
| Ru | Ruthenium | Hard and brittle, ruthenium (element 44) belongs to the platinum group of metals. |
| S | Sulfur | Sulfur, atomic number 16, is a bright yellow nonmetal found near volcanoes and recovered in vast amounts from natural gas and oil refining. |
| Sb | Antimony | A brittle, silvery metalloid with atomic number 51, antimony is mostly used as antimony trioxide in flame retardants for plastics and textiles. |
| Sc | Scandium | A light, silvery transition metal with atomic number 21, scandium is added in small amounts to aluminum to make strong, weldable alloys for aerospace parts, bicycle… |
| Se | Selenium | Selenium (atomic number 34) conducts electricity better in light than in darkness, a property that made it the photosensitive material in early photocopiers, light… |
| Sg | Seaborgium | Seaborgium (atomic number 106) is a synthetic element in group 6, below tungsten, first made at Berkeley and Livermore in 1974. |
| Si | Silicon | Silicon (element 14) is a metalloid second only to oxygen in abundance in Earth's crust, where it occurs as silica and silicate minerals in sand, quartz and granite. |
| Sm | Samarium | Samarium-cobalt magnets are less powerful than neodymium magnets but keep their strength at high temperatures, suiting them to aerospace and military motors; samarium… |
| Sn | Tin | Solder, which joins nearly every electronic component, is the largest use of tin, element 50, a soft and low-melting metal also applied as a thin coating on steel food… |
| Sr | Strontium | Strontium, element 38, produces the crimson red of fireworks and road flares. |
| Ta | Tantalum | Phones, laptops and cars contain compact, high-capacitance capacitors made of tantalum (atomic number 73), a dense and highly corrosion-resistant metal. |
| Tb | Terbium | A strong green glow in fluorescent-lamp and display phosphors comes from terbium (atomic number 65). |
| Tc | Technetium | The lightest element with no stable isotopes, technetium (atomic number 43) is essentially absent from Earth's crust and is made in reactors. |
| Te | Tellurium | Among the rarest stable elements in Earth's crust, tellurium (element 52) is a brittle metalloid recovered as a by-product of copper refining. |
| Th | Thorium | Weakly radioactive and about three times as abundant as uranium in Earth's crust, thorium (atomic number 90) can be bred into fissile uranium-233 in nuclear reactors… |
| Ti | Titanium | Titanium, element 22, combines steel-like strength with about 45% less weight and outstanding corrosion resistance, which suits it to jet engines, airframes, hip… |
| Tl | Thallium | Tasteless, odorless and highly toxic, thallium compounds earned element 81 the nickname "the poisoner's poison" and were once sold as rat and ant killers. |
| Tm | Thulium | One of the rarest lanthanides, thulium (atomic number 69) has specialized uses: thulium-170, made by irradiating the natural isotope, provides compact X-ray sources for… |
| Ts | Tennessine | Tennessine (element 117) is the second-heaviest known element and a member of the halogen group, though it is predicted to behave more like a metal than iodine does. |
| U | Uranium | Uranium (atomic number 92) is the heaviest element found in nature in substantial quantities and the fuel of nuclear power. |
| V | Vanadium | Vanadium (atomic number 23) is a hard transition metal used mainly as an additive that toughens steel for tools, springs and axles. |
| W | Tungsten | Tungsten (element 74) has the highest melting point of any metal, 3,422 °C, and a density close to gold's. |
| Xe | Xenon | Bright car headlights, photographic flashes and spacecraft ion engines all rely on xenon, element 54, a heavy and rare noble gas. |
| Y | Yttrium | A silvery transition metal with atomic number 39, yttrium is found in YAG (yttrium aluminum garnet) lasers, the red phosphors of old color televisions, white LEDs and… |
| Yb | Ytterbium | Some of the world's most precise optical lattice clocks tick with atoms of ytterbium, element 70, a soft lanthanide. |
| Zn | Zinc | Galvanizing, the coating of steel with a protective zinc layer, accounts for about half of the zinc (element 30) produced each year. |
| Zr | Zirconium | Zirconium (atomic number 40) barely absorbs neutrons, so zirconium-alloy tubes clad the uranium fuel in most nuclear reactors. |
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