About
锕 is a modern phono-semantic compound that names the radioactive element actinium. The left side 钅, the simplified form of the metal radical 釒, provides the general meaning "metal", while the right side 阿 (ā) supplies a pronunciation close to the first syllable of "actinium". The traditional version, 錒, replaces 钅 with the full radical 釒 but keeps the same phonetic. Like many Chinese characters for chemical elements, it pairs a semantic radical with a phonetic component that echoes the Western scientific term.
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