镧 (lán) · lanthanum (chemical element, La, atomic number 57)

Meanings

1 lanthanum (chemical element, La, atomic number 57)

Characters

镧

lán

lanthanum

Examples

HSK 5

镧用于制造特殊光学玻璃。

Lán yòngyú zhìzào tèshū guāngxué bōli.

Lanthanum is used to make specialty optical glass.

HSK 7-9

镧是一种稀土金属。

Lán shì yī zhǒng xītǔ jīnshǔ.

Lanthanum is a rare-earth metal.

Tips

memory

Like most metal element names, this is a phono-semantic compound: the 钅 (jīn) radical signals 'metal', and the right side 阑 gives the sound. Same pattern as 铜 (copper), 铁 (iron), 锌 (zinc).

culture

镧 gives its name to the 镧系元素 - the lanthanide series, the 15 metallic elements 57-71 critical to magnets, lasers, and electronics. China holds the world's largest reserves and dominates global supply.

Components

radical

钅 jīn

metal (radical form of 金)

Left-side metal radical - the side form of 金. The indexing radical of the chemistry family, used to coin element names: 铁 iron, 铜 copper, 铀 uranium, 镭 radium. Here it tags 镧 as a metallic element, fitting lanthanum's place in the periodic table as a soft silvery rare-earth metal.

phonetic

阑 lán

railing; late

Right side 阑 supplies the sound - lán read straight across with no shift, chosen by modern chemists to spell the element name La. 阑 itself depicts a gated railing; none of that imagery carries over to lanthanum. Pure phonetic pairing for a 20th-century chemistry coinage.