yuánzì Chinese characters of the chemical elements

“copy, write down, record”

On its own, an ordinary character; Cantonese luk6. Readings and gloss from the Unicode Unihan database.

Carries Chlorine

gas → gas
+
=
· Cl 17

Not a plain transliteration: the component was chosen for its meaning, or the name is older than the system.

Same syllable, different tone: lù became lǜ.