mercury

1. 1.

   a heavy silvery toxic univalent and bivalent metallic element; the only metal that is liquid at ordinary temperatures

   SynonymsquicksilverhydrargyrumHgatomic number 80

   Broadermetallic element
2. 2.

   (Roman mythology) messenger of Jupiter and god of commerce; counterpart of Greek Hermes

   BroaderRoman deity

   Roman mythology

3. 3.

   the smallest planet and the nearest to the sun

   Broaderterrestrial planetinferior planet

   Part ofsolar system
4. 4.

   temperature measured by a mercury thermometer

   “the mercury was falling rapidly”

   Broadertemperature

Other forms of mercury

plural

mercuries·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about mercury

What does mercury mean?

mercury means "a heavy silvery toxic univalent and bivalent metallic element; the only metal that is liquid at ordinary temperatures". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in mercury?

mercury has 3 syllables: mer-cu-ry. The stress falls on "mer". In IPA it is /ˈmɝkjɚi/.

What is another word for mercury?

Close synonyms include quicksilver, hydrargyrum, Hg, atomic number 80. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is mercury a common word?

mercury is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.