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The metallic element "cobalt" ultimately draws its name from folklore. In Middle High German, "kobolt" denoted a usually helpful household elf that engaged in nasty pranks only when it was offended. Later, early Modern German Kobold came to refer to a variety of less helpful goblins inhabiting fields and mountains. The variant "Kobolt" in the 16th century was applied by German miners to ores containing the metal cobalt, which they considered to be worthless; they believed that mountain goblins had spoiled adjacent silver ores, or had stolen the silver within the ore. The metal itself in relatively pure form was not produced and described until the 17th century, when "cobalt," with its first letter influenced by New Latin cobaltum, became part of the international language of science.
Examples of cobalt in a Sentence
Anna Broughel, Forbes, 15 Oct. 2024
Beiser tracks cobalt and lithium from environmentally destructive excavation sites in Chile’s Atacama Desert and the deep-sea floor through a geopolitically fraught supply chain to our electric cars and solar panels.
—Dana Dunham, Scientific American, 15 Oct. 2024
While opening more facilities in California would help, the program uses cobalt to produce high-energy radiation to sterilize the bugs — which is expensive and requires the lab to take extensive safety and security measures.
—Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2024
Since the first Tesla hit the road in 2008, the standard electric vehicle battery has been made primarily from nickel and cobalt.
—Aarian Marshall, WIRED, 15 Sep. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Cobalt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cobalt. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
from German Kobalt "cobalt," an altered form of Kobold, literally, "goblin"; so called because its appearance in silver ore was thought to have been the work of goblins who left it in place of silver which they stole
Medical Definition
cobalt
noun
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