About
铷 (traditional: 銣) is a phono-semantic compound: the metal radical 钅 on the left places it among metals, and the phonetic 如 on the right provides the pronunciation. This character was coined in modern times to render Western chemical terms into Chinese, designating rubidium, an alkali metal discovered in the 19th century. It has no ancient history, classical usage, or extended semantic range; its meaning is restricted to the periodic table and inorganic chemistry.
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