[Wikipedia-l] Ununbiium

Fri Jul 26 06:16:34 UTC 2002

Pierre Abbat wrote:
> I checked "most wanted" and found eight articles linking to "ununbium", which 
> as far as I can figure out is a misspelling, but is much more common on the 
> Web than "ununbiium".

A ratio of 26,200 to 15 on Google is certainly "much more common". ;)

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, it's definitely ununbium.
(Online edition: http://www.bartleby.com/61/47/U0124765.html )

 > As far as I can tell, the temporary element names are
> formed by stringing together the syllables "nil", "un", "bi", "tri", "quad", 
> etc., and adding "ium" to the end. If "ununbium" were correct, then element 
> 122 would be unbbium, and element 222 would be bbbium, which can't be 
> distinctly pronounced. Does anyone have the definitive document on this?

Wouldn't it be "bibibium"? *ununbiium > ununbium is simply assimilation 
of a double vowel (ii) into a single one (i).

-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)