yuánzì Chinese characters of the chemical elements
硼

Boron B · 5

péng

solid non-metal · period 2, group 13 · p-block

Anatomy

石 radical 石 shí
stone → solid non-metal
+ 朋 phonetic =
硼 péng

Ancient name. Known in China long before modern chemistry; the old character was kept. Known since antiquity from borax (硼砂); character standardized from earlier usage

History of the character

Every form found in the sources, from the first missionary chemistry books of the 1850s to the current standards. Hover a dot for the source. Simplified 硼, traditional 硼.

1850187519001925195019752000antiquitytoday
硼精
1868 · 格物入門 · Géwù Rùmén (1868) — W. A. P. Martin (丁韙良), Tongwen College
硼
1870 · 化學初階 · Huàxué Chūjiē (1870) — John G. Kerr (嘉約翰) & Hé Liǎorán (何瞭然)
布而倫
1871 · 金石識別 · Jīnshí Shíbié (1871) — D. J. MacGowan (瑪高溫) & Huà Héngfāng (華蘅芳)
𥑢 bù 石 + 布
1871 · 化學鑑原 · Huàxué Jiànyuán (1871) — Xú Shòu (徐壽) & John Fryer (傅蘭雅), Jiangnan Arsenal1905 · 化學新教科書 · Huàxué Xīn Jiàokēshū (1905) — Dù Yàquán (杜亞泉), Commercial Press
  1. 1868 硼精 格物入門 Géwù Rùmén, W. A. P. Martin (丁韙良), Tongwen College
  2. 1870 硼 化學初階 Huàxué Chūjiē, John G. Kerr (嘉約翰) & Hé Liǎorán (何瞭然)
  3. 1871 布而倫 金石識別 Jīnshí Shíbié, D. J. MacGowan (瑪高溫) & Huà Héngfāng (華蘅芳)
  4. 1871 𥑢(石 + 布) 化學鑑原 Huàxué Jiànyuán, Xú Shòu (徐壽) & John Fryer (傅蘭雅), Jiangnan Arsenal
  5. 1905 𥑢(石 + 布) bù 化學新教科書 Huàxué Xīn Jiàokēshū, Dù Yàquán (杜亞泉), Commercial Press

Homophones

No other element shares this syllable.

Elsewhere

Japanese ホウ素 Korean 붕소 Vietnamese bor

Western name from Arabic, Medieval Latin, Anglo-Norman, Middle French, and Middle English بورق (buraq). Compare all

Unicode

U+787C in CJK Unified Ideographs