# cobalt

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkəʊ.bɒlt/ · frequency rank #17,796

## Definitions
1. A chemical element (symbol Co) with an atomic number of 27: a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal.
2. Cobalt blue.

## Etymology
From German Kobalt, formerly also Kobald, ‑olt, ‑old, ‑elt, ‑el, apparently the same word as Kobold (“goblin”), from Middle High German, which became also a Harz Mountains silver miners’ term for rock laced with arsenic and sulfur, so called because it degraded the ore and made the miners ill. Doublet of kobold.

## Easily confused with
- **colt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cobalt-vs-colt)
- **coral** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cobalt-vs-coral)
- **combat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cobalt-vs-combat)
- **cobble** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cobalt-vs-cobble)
- **coal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coal-vs-cobalt)
- **coat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coat-vs-cobalt)
- **coast** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coast-vs-cobalt)
- **cabal** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cabal-vs-cobalt)
- **coals** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/coals-vs-cobalt)
- **Cobain** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/cobain-vs-cobalt)

## Common misspellings (9)
`cboalt`, `ccobalt`, `coablt`, `coballt`, `cobaltt`, `cobatl`, `cobbalt`, `coblat`, `ocbalt`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/cobalt