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The character 钴 (gǔ), in its traditional form 鈷, is a phono-semantic compound. Its left component, the metal radical 钅 (derived from 金), indicates a chemical element or metallic substance, while the right component, 古 (gǔ), provides the pronunciation. Historically, the traditional form referred in ancient texts to a type of flat iron or an unspecified metal tool, though this meaning is now obsolete. In modern scientific nomenclature, the character was repurposed as a phonetic loan to represent cobalt, a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal, exemplifying how an older character was adapted for the standardized terminology of contemporary chemistry.
Etymology Hide
