va|na|di|um

va|na|di|um «vuh NAY dee uhm», noun.

a very hard, silver-white metallic chemical element occurring in certain iron, lead, and uranium ores, such as vanadinite, and used especially in making various strong alloys of steel.

╂[< New Latin vanadium < Old Icelandic Vanadīs, a name of the Scandinavian goddess Freya (because it was found in iron by a Swedish chemist)]