lithium
/ˈlɪθi.əm/noun
lithium is spelled L-I-T-H-I-U-M: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, lithium means “The simplest alkali metal, the lightest solid element, and the third lightest chemical element (symbol Li) with an atomic number of 3 and atomic…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of lithium is lithiums.
How many letters and syllables are in lithium?
| Letters | 7: L-I-T-H-I-U-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.6 times per million words; the 13,695th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is lithium?
Lithium appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce lithium?
- /ˈlɪθi.əm/
Lithium has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-lithium.wav, En-us-lithium.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Tesco250-lithium.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of lithium
- lithiums plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does lithium mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The simplest alkali metal, the lightest solid element, and the third lightest chemical element (symbol Li) with an atomic number of 3 and atomic weight of 6.94. It is a soft, silvery metal.
The importance of lithium-ion batteries makes lithium a potentially strategic natural resource.
- 2
A single atom of this element.
- 3
Lithium carbonate or other preparations of lithium metal used as a mood stabiliser to treat manic depression and bipolar disorders.
It seems like his moods are better since he started taking lithium.
- 4
A lithium battery.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Lithium in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense chemical element:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does lithium come from?
From New Latin lithium, from Ancient Greek λίθος (líthos, “stone”) + -ium.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).