yuánzì Chinese characters of the chemical elements
朋

朋 péng

“friend, pal, acquaintance”

On its own, an ordinary character; Cantonese pang4. Readings and gloss from the Unicode Unihan database.

Carries Boron

石 stone → solid non-metal
+
朋 péng
=
硼 péng · B 5

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

The element keeps the component’s reading exactly.