te

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a brittle silver-white metalloid element that is related to selenium and sulfur; it is used in alloys and as a semiconductor; occurs mainly as tellurides in ores of copper and nickel and silver and gold
  2. noun the syllable naming the seventh (subtonic) note of any musical scale in solmization

Etymology

Sense 1: Altered from si in the 19th century to prevent having two notes of the musical scale starting with the same letter, to become te and later ti. Sense 2: The vowel of ti then changed to 'e' to signify a flattened note.

In classic literature

Synonyms

tellurium, atomic number 52

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