pitchblende

English

Etymology

From German Pechblende, from Pech (“pitch”) + Blende (“blende”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪtʃblɛnd/
• Rhymes: -ɛnd

Noun

pitchblende (countable and uncountable, plural pitchblendes)

1. (mineralogy) Naturally-occurring uranium oxide, a variety of the mineral uraninite.
   • 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 205:

     Working in Paris in 1898, Marie and Pierre Curie processed thousands of pounds of pitchblende from the same glass-factory tailings in order to isolate two radioactive elements that had hitherto been unknown: radium and polonium.

Translations

a type of uraninite

• Bulgarian: пехбленда f (pehblenda), уранит m (uranit)
• Finnish: pikivälke
• French: pechblende (fr) f
• German: Pechblende f
• Italian: pechblenda f
• Russian: уранини́т (ru) m (uraninít), ура́новая смо́лка f (uránovaja smólka), смоляна́я обма́нка f (smoljanája obmánka)