About
The character 氚 designates the hydrogen isotope tritium and originated as a modern scientific term. Its structure is a phono-semantic compound, combining the gas radical 气 with the component 川, which provides the pronunciation chuān. This follows the conventional pattern for naming gaseous elements in Chinese, where the radical indicates the substance's state and the accompanying element cues the sound. The character was coined to address a specific lexical need in scientific discourse and has since been used exclusively for this isotope.