Global Cognates for Elements

 Chemical Elements

The words used for different chemical elements tend to be some of the most and least widely borrowed words. Terms for precious metals like gold, silver, copper, tin, and iron have usually been part of a language's native vocabulary for a long time and don’t get borrowed so often. The same goes for other elements like mercury, carbon, oxygen and sodium.

Words for 'iron' in Indo-European languages

English iron

Russian zeležo

Spanish hierro

Albanian hekur

Persian âhan

Words for 'iron' in Niger-Congo languages

Zulu insimbi

Akan dade   

KiKongo kibende

Swahili chuma

Words for 'iron' in Austronesian languages

Indonesian    besi

Tagolog        bakal

Cebuano      puthaw

Hawaiian      hao

Alternatively, terminology and names for some elements are fairly new. So while the substances may have been known for centuries, certain chemical elements were identified in a scientific sense relatively recently like cobalt (1735), calcium (1800s), titanium (1791), and nickel (1751). As such, some of these terms have been very widely borrowed in world languages. 

Language	Family	aluminium, aluminum	cobalt	nickel	titanium
Spanish	Indo-European	el aluminio	el cobalto	el níquel	el titanio
French	Indo-European	l'aluminium	le cobalt	le nickel	le titane
Portuguese	Indo-European	o alumínio	o cobalto	o níquel	o titânio
Catalan	Indo-European	alumini	cobalt	níquel	titani
Romanian	Indo-European	aluminiu	cobalt	nichel	titan
Italian	Indo-European	l'alluminio	il cobalto	il nichel	il titanio
Greek	Indo-European	αλουμίνιο (aloumínio)	κοβάλτιο (kováltio)	νικέλιο (nikélio)	τιτάνιο (titánio)
Albanian	Indo-European	alumin	kobalt	nikel	titan
Bulgarian	Indo-European	алуминий (alumínij)	кобалт (kobalt)	никел (nikel)	титан (titan)
Serbo-Croatian	Indo-European	алуминијум / aluminijum, алуминиј / aluminij	кобалт / kobalt	никал / nikal	титан / titan
Ukrainian	Indo-European	алюміній (aljuminij)	кобальт (kobalʹt)	нікель (nikelʹ)	титан (tytan)
Belarusian	Indo-European	алюміній (aljuminij)	кобальт (kobalʹt)	нікель (nikjelʹ)	тытан (tytan
Russian	Indo-European	алюминий (aljumínij)	кобальт (kobalʹt)	никель (nikel')	титан (titan)
Slovak	Indo-European	alumínium (uncommon)	kobalt	nikel	titán
Czech	Indo-European	alumínium (uncommon)	kobalt	nikl	titan
Polish	Indo-European	aluminium	kobalt	nikiel	tytan
Lithuanian	Indo-European	aliuminis	kobaltas	nikelis	titanas
Latvian	Indo-European	alumīnijs	kobalts	nikelis	titāns
Armenian	Indo-European	ալյումին (alyumin)	կոբալտ (kobalt)	նիկել (nikel)	տիտան (titan)
Welsh	Indo-European	alwminiwm	cobalt	nicel	titaniwm
German	Indo-European	das Aluminium	das Kobalt	das Nickel	das Titan
Swedish	Indo-European	aluminium	kobolt	nickel	titan
Norwegian	Indo-European	aluminium	kobolt	nikkel	titan
Danish	Indo-European	aluminium	kobolt	nikkel	titan
Icelandic	Indo-European	ál	kóbalt	nikkel	títan
Dutch	Indo-European	het aluminium	het kobalt	het nikkel	het titanium, het titaan
Afrikaans	Indo-European	aluminium	kobalt	nikkel	titaan
Tajik	Indo-European	алюминий (alyuminiy)	кобалт (kobalt)	никел (nikel)	титан (titan)
Persian/Farsi	Indo-European	âluminiyom	kobâlt	nikel	titaniom
Pashto	Indo-European	almónyám almoniyam almunyá	kobalt	nikal, naikal	titán
Hindi	Indo-European	एल्युमिनियम (elyuminiyam)	कोबाल्ट (kobalt)	निकल (nikal)	टाइटेनियम (taiteniyam)
Bengali	Indo-European	অ্যালুমিনিয়াম (êluminiẏam)	কোবল্ট (kōbalṭa)	নিকেল (nikēla)	টাইটানিয়াম (tā'iṭāniẏāma)
Gujarati	Indo-European	એલ્યુમિનિયમ, (alyuminiyama)	કોબાલ્ટ (kōbālṭa)	નિકલ (nikala)	ટાઇટેનિયમ (ṭā'iṭēniyama)
Nepali	Indo-European	आल्मुनियम (ālmuniyam)	कोबाल्ट (kōbālṭa)	निकल (nikal)
Punjabi	Indo-European	ਐਲਮੀਨੀਅਮ (ailmīnī'ama) ਐਲਮੀਨਮ (ailmīnam)	ਕੋਬਾਲਟ (kobālaṭ)	ਨਿਕਲ (nikal)	ਟਾਇਟੇਨੀਅਮ (ṭā'iṭēnī'ama)
Marathi	Indo-European	ऍल्युमिनियम (ĕlyuminiyam)	कोबाल्ट (kobālṭa)	निकेल nikēla	टायटॅनियम (ṭāyaṭĕniyama)
Sinhalese	Indo-European	ඇලුමිනියම් (æluminiyam)	කොබෝල්ට් (kobōlṭ)	කොබෝල්ට් (kobōlṭ)	ටයිටේනියම් (ṭayiṭēniyam)
Assamese	Indo-European	eluminiyam, aluminiyam	কোবাল্ট (kobalt)	নিকেল (nikel)
Georgian	Kartvelian	ალუმინი (alumini)	კობალტი (ḳobalṭi)	ნიკელი (niḳeli)	ტიტანი (ṭiṭani)
Chechen	Northeast Caucasian	алюминий (alyuminiy)		никель (nikel')
Yakut	Turkic	алюминий (alyuminiy)	кобальт (kobal't)	никель (nikel')	титан (titan)
Uyghur	Turkic	alyumin	kobalt	nikél	titan
Bashkir TUR	Turkic	алюминий (alyuminiy)	кобальт (kobal't)	никель (nikel')	титан (titan)
Tatar	Turkic	алюминий (alüminiy)	кобальт (kobal't)	никель (nikel')	титан (titan)
Kazakh	Turkic	алюминий (alüminiy)	кобальт (kobal't)	никель (nikel')	титан (titan)
Uzbekh	Turkic	alyuminiy	kobalt	nikel	titan
Karakalpak	Turkic	alyuminiy	kobalt	nikel	titan
Kyrgyz	Turkic	алюминий (alyuminiy)	кобальт (kobalt)	никель (nikel')	титан (titan)
Turkmen	Turkic	alýumin	kobalt	nikel	titan
Azeri	Turkic	alüminium	kobalt	nikel	titan
Turkish	Turkic	alüminyum	kobalt	nikel	titan, titanyum
Mongolian	Mongolic		кобальт (kobalʹt)	никель (nikel')	титан (titan)
Greenlandic/ Kalaallisut	Eskaleut	aluminiumi aluminiumimik	kobolti, koboltimik	nikkeli
Korean	Koreanic	알루미늄 (alluminyum)	코발트 (kobalteu)	니켈 (nikel)	티타늄 (titinyum)
Japanese	Japonic	アルミニウム (aruminiumu)	コバルト (kobaruto)	ニッケル (nikkeru)	チタン (chitan)
Hungarian	Uralic	alumínium	kobalt	nikkel	titán
Estonian	Uralic	alumiinium	koobalt	nikkel	titaan
Finnish	Uralic	alumiini	koboltti	nikkeli	titaani
North Sami	Uralic	alumiidna	kobolta	nihkkel	titánas, titána
Basque	Isolate	aluminioa	kobalto kobaltoa	nikela	titanioa
isiXhosa	Niger-Congo	i-aluminiyami, i-aluminiyam
isiZulu	Niger-Congo	IsAlumbe i-aluminiyamu	ikhabhali	inikheli
Ndebele (Southern)	Niger-Congo	i-aluminiyamu	ikhobhalthi	inikheli
Lingala	Niger-Congo	aluminyumu	kobalti	nikɛ́li	titani
SeSotho	Niger-Congo	aluminiamo	khobalete khobalte	nikele	titaniamo
ChiChewa	Niger-Congo	aluminiyamu
ChiShona	Niger-Congo			niyakari nikeru
Kirundi	Niger-Congo	aruminiyumu
Kinyarwanda	Niger-Congo	aluminiyumu	kobalti cobalti	nikel, nikeli	titanium, titaniyamu
Yoruba	Niger-Congo	aluminiọmu, alumíníọ̀mù	kobalt	nikel	titaniomu
Swahili	Niger-Congo	alumini,  aluminiamu	kobalti	nikeli	titani
Hausa	Afro-Asiatic	aluminium	kobalt	nickel
Somali	Afro-Asiatic	alumiiniyaam	kobalti	nikel	titaaniyaam
Oromo	Afro-Asiatic	aluuminiyemii	kooboolti
Hebrew	Afro-Asiatic	aluminyum	qobalt	nikl	titanyum
Maltese	Afro-Asiatic	aluminju	kobalt	nikil	titanju
Arabic	Afro-Asiatic	alūminyūm, ʾalūminyom	kūbalt	nikl, naykal	tītāniyūm
Moroccan Arabic	Afro-Asiatic	aluminyūm
Amharic	Afro-Asiatic	አሉሚኒየም ('aluminiyäm)	ኮባልት (kobalt)	ኒኬል (nikel)	ቲታኒየም (titaniyäm)
Tigrinya	Afro-Asiatic	ኣሉሚኒዮም ('aluminiyäm)	ኮባልት (kobalt)	ኒኬል (nikel)	ቲታንዩም (titanəyum)
Tamil	Dravidian	அலூமீனியம் (alūmīṉiyam)	கோபால்ட் (kōpālṭ)	நிக்கல் (nikkal)	டைட்டேனியம் (ṭaiṭṭēṉiyam)
Telugu	Dravidian	అల్యూమినియం (alyūminiyaṁ)	కోబాల్ట్ (kōbālṭ)	నికెలు (nikelu),  నికిలము (nikilamu)	టైటానియం (ṭaiṭāniyaṁ)
Kannada	Dravidian	ಅಲ್ಯೂಮಿನಿಯಮ್ (alyūminiyam)	ಕೋಬಾಲ್ಟ್ (kōbālṭ)	ನಿಕಲ್ (nikal)	ಟೈಟೇನಿಯಮ್ (ṭaiṭāniyaṁ)
Malayalam	Dravidian	അലുമിനിയം (aluminiyaṁ)	കൊബാൾട്ട് (kobāltŭ)	നിക്കൽ (nikkal)	ടൈറ്റാനിയം (titāniyaṁ)
Ilocano	Austronesian	aluminio	kobalto	nikel	titanio
Bikol	Austronesian	aluminio, aluminum	kobalto	nikel	titanyo, titanyum
Fijian	Austronesian	aluminium
Hawaiian	Austronesian	ʻaluminuma	kopalaka, kobalata	nikala
Malagasay	Austronesian	alominiôma	kôbalta	nikela, nikely	titanina, titaniôma
Tagalog	Austronesian	aluminyo	kobalto	nikel	titanyo
Cebuano/ Bisaya	Austronesian	alumunio	kobalto	nikil	titanyo
Waray-Waray	Austronesian	alumínyo	kobálto	níkel	titányo
Sundanese	Austronesian	alumunium	kobalt	nikel	titanium
Basa Bali	Austronesian			nikel
Javanese	Austronesian	alumunium	kobalt	nikel	titaniyum
Bahasa Indonesia	Austronesian	aluminium	kobalt	nikel	titanium
Bahasa Melayu	Austronesian	aluminium	kobalt	nikel	titanium
Tetum	Austronesian	alumíniu		nikel
White Hmong	Hmong-Mien
Khmer	Austroasiatic	អាលុយមីញ៉ូម (ʼaaluymiiñoum)	កូបាល (koubaal)	នីកើល (niikaəl),  នីកែល (niikael)	ទីតាន (tiitaan)
Vietnamese	Austroasiatic	nhôm, a-luy-mi-nhôm (out-dated)	coban	nikel	titan
Mandarin	Sino-Tibetan	鋁／铝 (lǚ)	鈷／钴 (gǔ)	鎳 (niè)	鈦 (tài)
Cantonese	Sino-Tibetan	鋁／铝 (leoi5)	鈷 (gu2)	鎳 (nip6)	鈦 (taai3)
Hokkien	Sino-Tibetan	lū, lī a-lú-mih (Taiwan)	kó͘	ni-ké-luh, gia̍t	thài
Hakka	Sino-Tibetan	lî, à-lu-mí, â-lu-mí (Taiwan)	kû	ngoi-kôn
Wu	Sino-Tibetan	6liu	5ku		5tha
Tibetan	Sino-Tibetan
Burmese	Sino-Tibetan	အလူမီနီယမ် (ăluminiyan)	ကိုဘော့ (kobaw)	နီကယ် (nikè)	တိုက်တေနီယမ် (taitèniyan)
Thai	Kra-Dai/Tai-Kadai	อะลูมิเนียม (à-luu-mí-niiam),  อะลูมินัม (à-luu-mí-nam)	โคบอลต์ (koo-bɔ́l)	นิกเกิล (ník-gə̂əl)	ไทเทเนียม (tai-tee-nîiam)
Lao	Kra-Dai/Tai-Kadai	ອາລູມິນຽມ (ʼā lū mi nīam)	ໂຄບອລຕ໌ (khō bǭn)	nī ken	thai the nīam
Lü/Tai Lue	Kra-Dai/Tai-Kadai
Zhuang	Kra-Dai/Tai-Kadai	lij
Guaraní	Tupi-Guarani	alumínio
Quechua	Quechuan	aluminyu, alumï	kupaltu	nikil	titanyu
Tok Pisin	Creole	aluminiem	kobalt, kobal	nikel	taitaniem
Bislama	Creole	alaminiom		nikel
Sranan Tongo	Creole	aluminium
Papiamentu	Creole	aluminio	kobalt	nikel	titanio
Haitian Creole	Creole	aliminyòm		nikèl

Global cognates can also be found in elements that weren’t known to most societies and were recently discovered or identified. This includes elements like neon (1898), iodine (1811), helium (1868) and lithium (1817).

Language	Family	helium	iodine	lithium	neon
Spanish	Indo-European	el helio	el yodo, el iodo	el litio	el neón
French	Indo-European	l'hélium	l'iode	le lithium	le néon
Portuguese	Indo-European	o hélio	o iodo	o lítio	o néon, o neônio
Catalan	Indo-European	heli	iode	liti	néo
Romanian	Indo-European	heliu	iod	litiu	neon
Italian	Indo-European	il elio	il iodio	il litio	neon
Greek	Indo-European	ήλιο (ílio)	ιώδιο (iódio)	λίθιο (líthio)	νέον (néon)
Albanian	Indo-European	helium	jod	litium	neon
Bulgarian	Indo-European	хелий (helij)	йод (jod)	литий (litij)	неон (neon)
Serbo-Croatian	Indo-European	хелијум / helijum хелиј / helij	йод / jod	литијум / litijum литиј / litij	неон / neon
Ukrainian	Indo-European	гелій (helij)	йод (jod)	літій (litij)	неон (neon)
Belarusian	Indo-European	гелій (hjelij)	ёд (jod)	літый (lítyj)	неон (njeon)
Russian	Indo-European	гeлий (gelij)	йод (jod)	литий (litij)	неон (neon)
Slovak	Indo-European	hélium	jód	lítium	neón
Czech	Indo-European	helium	jód	lithium	neon
Polish	Indo-European	hel	jod	lit	neon
Lithuanian	Indo-European	helis	jodas	litis	neonas
Latvian	Indo-European	hēlijs	jods	litijs	neons
Armenian	Indo-European	հելիում (helium)	յոդ (yod)	լիթիում (litʿium)	նեոն (neon)
Welsh	Indo-European	heliwm	ïodin	lithiwm	neon
German	Indo-European	das Helium	das Jod	das Lithium	das Neon
Swedish	Indo-European	helium	jod	litium	neon
Norwegian	Indo-European	helium	jod	litium	neon
Danish	Indo-European	helium	jod	lithium	neon
Icelandic	Indo-European	helín	joð	litín	neon
Dutch	Indo-European	helium	het jood	het lithium	het neon
Afrikaans	Indo-European	helium	jood	litium	neon
Tajik	Indo-European	гелий (geliy)	йод (yod),  иод (iod)	литий (litiy)	неон (neon)
Persian/Farsi	Indo-European	heliyom	yod	litiyom	ne'on
Pashto	Indo-European	helium	ayodīn	litiyam	nion niwon
Hindi	Indo-European	हिलियम (hiliyam)	आयोडीन (ayodin)	लिथियम (lithiyam)	नियोन (niyon)
Bengali	Indo-European	হিলিয়াম (hiliyam)	আয়োডিন (āẏōḍina)	লিথিযাম (lithiyam)	নিয়ন (niẏon)
Gujarati	Indo-European	હીલિયમ (hīliyama)	આયોડિન (āyōḍina)	લિથિયમ (lithiyama)	નિયોન (niyōna)
Nepali	Indo-European	हेलियम (hēliyama)	आयोडिन (āyōḍina)	लिथियम (lithiyama)	नीयन (nīyana)
Punjabi	Indo-European	ਹੀਲਿਅਮ (hīliama)	ਆਇਓਡੀਨ ā'i'ōḍīna	ਲਿਥੀਅਮ (lithīama)	ਨਿਓਨ (nion)
Marathi	Indo-European	हेलियम (heliyam)	आयोडीन āyōḍīna	लिथियम lithiyama	नियॉन (niyŏn)
Sinhalese	Indo-European	හීලියම් (hīliyam)	අයඩින් (ayaḍin)	ලිතියම් (litiyam)	නියොන් (niyon)
Assamese	Indo-European	হিলিয়াম (hiliyam)	আয়’ডিন (ay'din)	লিথিয়াম (lithiyam)	নিয়ন (niyan)
Georgian	Kartvelian	ჰელიუმი (heliumi)	იოდი (iodi)	ლითიუმი (litiumi)	ნეონი (neoni)
Chechen	Northeast Caucasian	гелий (geliy)	йод (yod)
Yakut	Turkic	гелий (geliy)	йод (yod)	литиум (litium)	неон (neon)
Uyghur	Turkic	gëliy	yod, yot	litiy	neon
Bashkir TUR	Turkic	гелий (geliy)	иод (iod)	литий (litiy)	неон (neon)
Tatar	Turkic	гелий (geliy)	иод (iod)	литий (litiy)	неон (neon)
Kazakh	Turkic	гелий (geliy)	йод (yod)	литий (litiy)	неон (neon)
Uzbekh	Turkic	geliy	yod	litiy	neon
Karakalpak	Turkic	geliy	yod	litiy	neon
Kyrgyz	Turkic	гелий (geliy)	йод (yod)	литий (litiy)	неон (neon)
Turkmen	Turkic	geliý	ýod	litiý	neon
Azeri	Turkic	helium	yod,  iod	litium	neon
Turkish	Turkic	helyum	iyot	ltiyum	neon
Mongolian	Mongolic	гели (geli)	йод (jod)	литий (litii)	неон (neon)
Greenlandic/ Kalaallisut	Eskaleut	heliumi	jodi		neoni
Korean	Koreanic	헬륨 (hellyum)	요오드 (yoodeu)	리튬 (rityum)	네온 (ne'on)
Japanese	Japonic	ヘリウム (heriumu)	ヨウ素 (yōso)	リチウム (richiumu)	ネオン (neon)
Hungarian	Uralic	hélium	jód	litium	neon
Estonian	Uralic	heelium	jood	liitium	neoon
Finnish	Uralic	helium	jodi	litium	neon
North Sami	Uralic	hēlium	jode	litium	nēon
Basque	Isolate	helioa	iodo	litio	neona
isiXhosa	Niger-Congo		iayodini		iniyoni
isiZulu	Niger-Congo		(i-)ayodini
Ndebele (Southern)	Niger-Congo		i-ayodini		iniyoni
KiKongo	Niger-Congo
Lingala	Niger-Congo	eliyúmu, helu	ide	litu	neoni
SeSotho	Niger-Congo	heliamo	ayotine	litiamo	neone
ChiChewa	Niger-Congo		ayodini	lithiamu
ChiShona	Niger-Congo	helium			niyoni
Kinyarwanda	Niger-Congo	helium	iyodine	litiyumu	neyone
Yoruba	Niger-Congo	hílíọ̀mù	iodínì	lítíọ̀mù	nẹ́ọ̀nù
Swahili	Niger-Congo	heliamu	iodini	lithi	neoni
Hausa	Afro-Asiatic	helium	aidin	lithium
Somali	Afro-Asiatic	hiliyaam	aaydhiin	liithiyaam	niyoon
Oromo	Afro-Asiatic	hiiliyam	ayoodiinii		nii'oon
Hebrew	Afro-Asiatic	helyum	yod	lityum	ne'on
Maltese	Afro-Asiatic	elju	jodju	litju	neon
Arabic	Afro-Asiatic	hīliyum	yūd	līṯiyum	niyōn,  niyūn
Moroccan Arabic	Afro-Asiatic		yudyu
Amharic	Afro-Asiatic	ሂሊየም (hiliyäm)	አዮዲን ('ayodin)	ሊቲየም (litiyäm)	ኒዮን (niyon)
Tigrinya	Afro-Asiatic	ሄልዮም (heləyom)	አዮዲን ('ayodin)	ሊትዩም (litəyum)	ኒዮን (niyon)
Tamil	Dravidian	ஹீலியம் (hīliyam)	அயடின் (ayaṭiṉ)	லித்தியம் (littiyam)	நியான் (niyāṉ)
Telugu	Dravidian	హీలియం (hīliyaṁ)	అయోడిన్ (ayōḍin)	లిథియం (lithiyaṁ)	నియాన్ (niyān)
Kannada	Dravidian	ಹೀಲಿಯಮ್ (hīliyam)	ಅಯೋಡಿನ್ (ayōḍin)	ಲಥಯಮ (lathayama)	ನಿಯಾನ್ (niyān)
Malayalam	Dravidian	ഹീലിയം (hīliyaṁ)	അയോഡിൻ (ayōdin)	ലിഥിയം (lithiyaṁ)	നിയോൺ (niyōṇ)
Ilocano	Austronesian	helio	yodo	litio	neon
Bikol	Austronesian	helyo,  helyum	yodo, iyodo	lityo,  lityum	neon
Hawaiian	Austronesian	hiliuma	ʻIokine	likiuma
Malagasay	Austronesian		iôdy	litiôma	neô
Tagalog	Austronesian	elyo	yodo	lityo	niyon
Cebuano/ Bisaya	Austronesian	helyo	yodo	litio	neon
Waray-Waray	Austronesian	hélyo	yódo	lítyo	niyón
Sundanese	Austronesian	hélium	yodium	litium	néon
Basa Bali	Austronesian		yodium
Javanese	Austronesian	helium	yodium	lityum	néon
Bahasa Indonesia	Austronesian	helium	yodium	litium	neon
Bahasa Melayu	Austronesian	helium	iodin	litium	neon
Tetum	Austronesian		iodu		neóniu
White Hmong	Hmong-Mien
Khmer	Austroasiatic	អេល្យូម (ʼeelyuum)	ឣីយ៉ុដ (eiyud)	លីច្យូម (liicyoum)	នេអុង (neiong)
Vietnamese	Austroasiatic	heli	iot	lithi,  liti	neon,  nê-ông
Mandarin	Sino-Tibetan	氦 (hài)	碘 (diǎn)	鋰／锂 (lǐ)	氖 (nǎi) 霓虹 (níhóng)
Cantonese	Sino-Tibetan	氦 (hoi6)	碘 (din2)	鋰／锂 (lei5)	氖 (naai5)
Hokkien	Sino-Tibetan	hāi	tián  ak-sò͘	lí	ne, ne-óng (Taiwan)
Hakka	Sino-Tibetan	hoi	tién	lî	ngì-fùng
Wu	Sino-Tibetan	6ghe	5ti	6li	6ne 6gni-ghon
Tibetan	Sino-Tibetan	he rlung	ah-ey-o-din
Burmese	Sino-Tibetan	ဟီလီယမ် (hiliyan)	အိုင်အိုဒင်း (aingadainn)	လီသီယမ် (lithiyan)	နီယွန် (ni ya:n)
Thai	Kra-Dai/Tai-Kadai	ฮีเลียม (hii-lîiam)	ไอโอดีน (ai-oo-diin)	ลิเทียม (lí-tîiam)	นีออน (nii-ɔɔn)
Lao	Kra-Dai/Tai-Kadai	ຮີລຽມ (hī līam)	ໄອໂອດິນ (ai o din)	ລິທຽມ (li thīam)	nī ān
Shan	Kra-Dai/Tai-Kadai		tin2 kʰjaa2
Lü/Tai Lue	Kra-Dai/Tai-Kadai		tæn⁴
Guaraní	Tupi-Guarani	élio		lítio
Quechua	Quechuan	ilyu,  helio	yutyu	lityu	niyun
Tok Pisin	Creole	heliem	aiadin,  aidin, yot	litiem
Bislama	Creole		aiodin, aedin
Saramaccan	Creole		jódion
Papiamentu	Creole	helio	yodo		neòn
Haitian Creole	Creole	elyòm	yòd	lityòm	neyon

Terms for boron are interesting. The word was actually made from a chemist based on the term borax, which is a kind of salt. This got into European languages from Latin, from Arabic, from a Middle Persian word. And that word was also borrowed into the Chinese languages.

Language	Family	boron
Spanish	Indo-European	el boro
French	Indo-European	le bore
Portuguese	Indo-European	o boro
Catalan	Indo-European	bor
Romanian	Indo-European	bor
Italian	Indo-European	il boro
Greek	Indo-European	βόριο (vório)
Albanian	Indo-European	bor
Bulgarian	Indo-European	бор (bor)
Serbo-Croatian	Indo-European	бор / bor
Ukrainian	Indo-European	бор (bor)
Belarusian	Indo-European	бор (bor)
Russian	Indo-European	бор (bor)
Slovak	Indo-European	bór
Czech	Indo-European	bor,  bór
Polish	Indo-European	bor
Lithuanian	Indo-European	boras
Latvian	Indo-European	bors
Armenian	Indo-European	բոր (bor)
Welsh	Indo-European	boron
German	Indo-European	das Bor
Swedish	Indo-European	bor
Norwegian	Indo-European	bor
Danish	Indo-European	bor
Icelandic	Indo-European	bór
Dutch	Indo-European	het boor
Afrikaans	Indo-European	boor
Tajik	Indo-European	бор (bor)
Persian/Farsi	Indo-European	bor
Hindi	Indo-European	बोरॉन (boron)
Bengali	Indo-European	বোরন (bōron)
Gujarati	Indo-European	બોરોન (bōrōna)
Nepali	Indo-European	बोरोन (bōrōn)
Punjabi	Indo-European	ਬਰਾਨ (barān)
Marathi	Indo-European	बोरॉन (borŏn)
Sinhalese	Indo-European	බෝරෝන් (bōrōn)
Assamese	Indo-European	ব’ৰন (boran)
Georgian	Kartvelian	ბორი (bori)
Chechen	Northeast Caucasian	бор (bor)
Yakut	Turkic	бор (bor)
Uyghur	Turkic	bor
Bashkir TUR	Turkic	бор (bor)
Tatar	Turkic	бор (bor)
Kazakh	Turkic	бор (bor)
Uzbekh	Turkic	bor
Karakalpak	Turkic	bor
Kyrgyz	Turkic	бор (bor)
Turkmen	Turkic	bor
Azeri	Turkic	bor
Turkish	Turkic	bor
Mongolian	Mongolic	бор (bor)
Greenlandic/ Kalaallisut	Eskaleut	bori
Korean	Koreanic	붕소(硼素) (bungso)
Japanese	Japonic	ホウ素 (hōso)
Hungarian	Uralic	bór
Estonian	Uralic	boor
Finnish	Uralic	boori
North Sami	Uralic	bōra
Basque	Isolate	boroa
isiXhosa	Niger-Congo	ibhoron
Lingala	Niger-Congo	bolo
SeSotho	Niger-Congo	borone
ChiShona	Niger-Congo	bhoroni
Kinyarwanda	Niger-Congo	baroni
Yoruba	Niger-Congo	bórọ̀nù
Swahili	Niger-Congo	boroni
Somali	Afro-Asiatic	booron
Hebrew	Afro-Asiatic	bor
Maltese	Afro-Asiatic	boron
Arabic	Afro-Asiatic	bōrōn, borun
Amharic	Afro-Asiatic	ቦሮን (boron)
Tigrinya	Afro-Asiatic	ብራና (brana)
Tamil	Dravidian	போரான (pōrāṉa)
Telugu	Dravidian	బోరాన్ (bōrān)
Kannada	Dravidian	ಬೊರಾನ (borāna)
Malayalam	Dravidian	ബോറോൺ (bōṟōṇ)
Ilocano	Austronesian	boro
Bikol	Austronesian	boron, boro
Hawaiian	Austronesian	boron
Malagasay	Austronesian	bôro
Tagalog	Austronesian	boro
Cebuano/ Bisaya	Austronesian	boro
Waray-Waray	Austronesian	bóro
Sundanese	Austronesian	boron
Javanese	Austronesian	boron
Bahasa Indonesia	Austronesian	boron
Bahasa Melayu	Austronesian	boron
Khmer	Austroasiatic	បរ (bɑrɑ)
Vietnamese	Austroasiatic	bo
Mandarin	Sino-Tibetan	硼 (péng)
Cantonese	Sino-Tibetan	硼 (paang)
Hokkien	Sino-Tibetan	硼 (phêng)
Hakka	Sino-Tibetan	phìn
Wu	Sino-Tibetan	6ban
Burmese	Sino-Tibetan	ဘိုရွန် (borun)
Thai	Kra-Dai/Tai-Kadai	โบรอน (boo-rɔ̂n)
Lao	Kra-Dai/Tai-Kadai	ໂບຣອນ (bō ron)
Quechua	Quechuan	purun
Tok Pisin	Creole	boren

Terms for Elements in LG2

Language	Family	aluminium aluminum	iodine	neon	nickel	boron	helium
SeTswana	Niger-Congo	aluminiamo	ayotine, ayodini	nione	nnikele
Sepedi	Niger-Congo	aluminiamo	ayodine, ayotine	neyone	nikele
Madurese, Madoerees	Austronesian	aluminiyum	yōdiyūm
Tikuna/ Ticuna	Isolate	arumíniu
Fula	Niger-Congo
Palauan	Austronesian	charuminium
Garifuna	Arawakan
Muong	Austroasiatic	nhôm
Nahuatl	Uto-Aztecan
Ingush	Northeast Caucasian	алюмини (aljumini)
Lezgi	Northeast Caucasian	алюминий (aljuminij)			никель (nikel')	бор (bor)	гелий (gelij)
Kumyk	Turkic	алюминий (aljuminij)	йод (jod)	неон (neon)	никель (nikel')	бор (bor)
Zazaki	Indo-European			neon		bor
Ossetian	Indo-European				никель (nikel')	бор (bor)
TashlHeet	Afro-Asiatic		lyuD
Wa	Austroasiatic
Chamorro	Austronesian
Maori	Austronesian
Navajo	Na-Dené
SiSwati	Niger-Congo			iniyoni
Kanuri	Nilo-Saharan
Zarma	Nilo-Saharan*
Chuvash	Turkic		иод (iod)	неон (neon)	никель (nikel')
Yaqui	Uto-Aztecan		yoodo

The number of the elements on the Periodic Table that have cognates across languages where those terms can be found is actually quite high. However, since most people don’t regularly talk about or interact with elements like protactinium, plutonium, or berkelium, these kinds of words are quite limited in their use and are not normally found in dictionaries outside of the more widely spoken languages so determining their existence in smaller languages ranged from difficult to impossible.

Terms of Note

Among elements, terms for ‘aluminium’ were the most likely to not be a cognates in a language while also the most likely word to be found in a dictionary for a smaller language.

Non-Cognate Terms for aluminium

Language	word for aluminium
Hmong Daw	pejchum
Lü	satuʔ²
Garifuna	mawani
Fula	baafata

Languages of Note

Many languages of South Asia have tow names for chemical elements with one being made of native roots and the other being borrowed (usually from English).

While a huge number of languages do borrow terms for these specific or more recently named elements, with even the Chinese languages borrowing a large number, a small number of languages generally did not. With a small handful of exceptions, Navajo doesn’t borrow terms for elements and not for any of the terms this was looking at. Likewise Hmong tends to use native roots for elements.

Totals

	aluminium, aluminum	boron	cobalt	helium	iodine	lithium	neon	nickel	titanium
Terms Founds	130	103	102	104	125	100	109	112	94
Non-Cognate Terms Found	12	0	1	1	6	1	1	1	1
Total Cognates Found	118	103	101	103	119	99	108	111	93
Proportion	0.908	1.000	0.990	0.990	0.952	0.990	0.991	0.991	0.989