來自1789年，其發現者德國化學家和礦物學家Martin Heinrich Klaproth以當時新發現的行星Uranus為這種金屬元素命名。比較cerium, 來自谷物女神Ceres.
英文詞源
uranium
uranium: [18] Ouranós was an ancient sky god in Greek mythology, consort of Gaea and father of Cronos and the Titans (his name was a personification of Greek ouranós ‘heaven’). The Romans called him ūranus, and the name soon came to be applied to the seventh planet from the sun after it was discovered in 1781. (Its discoverer, the German-born British astronomer Sir William Herschel, originally named it Georgium sidus ‘Georgian planet’, as an obsequious compliment to King George III, and others suggested that it should be called Herschel after the man who found it, but in the end the customary practice of naming after a classical deity prevailed.) The term uranium was derived from the planet’s name in 1789 by the German chemist Martin Klaproth, and is first recorded in English in 1797.
uranium (n.)
rare metallic element, 1797, named 1789 in Modern Latin by its discoverer, German chemist and mineralogist Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1743-1817), for the recently found planet Uranus (q.v.) + element ending -ium.
雙語例句
1. It was actually used for enriching uranium to weapons-grade levels.
實際上，它是用來將鈾濃縮以制造武器。
來自柯林斯例句
2. Enriched uranium is a key component of a nuclear weapon.
濃縮鈾是核武器的關鍵組成部分。
來自柯林斯例句
3. Uranium is soluble in sea water.
鈾可溶解于海水。
來自柯林斯例句
4. They went over nationwide in search of uranium mines.
他們為了探尋鈾礦走遍了全國.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
5. Only 7 uranium atoms of every 1,000 are U - 235.