Word.ws English Dictionary

metalloid

/ˈmɛtəlɔɪd/

metalloid noun: an element, such as silicon or germanium, intermediate in properties between that of a metal and a nonmetal; especially an elemental semiconductor.

Noun

metalloid (plural metalloids)

  1. An element, such as silicon or germanium, intermediate in properties between that of a metal and a nonmetal; especially an elemental semiconductor.
  2. (obsolete) The metallic base of a fixed alkali, or alkaline earth; applied to sodium, potassium, and some other metallic substances whose metallic character was supposed to be not well defined.
    • By some they [metals of the alkalies] were called metalloids; by some their simple nature was objected to1836, Sir Humphry Davy, Memoirs
  3. (obsolete) A nonmetal.

Adjective

metalloid (comparative more metalloid, superlative most metalloid)

  1. (not comparable) Of or relating to the metalloids.
  2. (informal) Characteristic of the metal music genre.
    • Graham Massey of 808 State turns a Björkian moan into a vibrating siren and powers his strangely metalloid version of "Army Of Me" with it; the Brodsky String Quartet turns "Hyperballad" into a stately 3-D chess game.1997, CMJ New Music Monthly, number 43, page 12
    • It expanded from bleary delay rippling with looped phrases to embrace molten metalloid raunch and blues grit, acoustic guitars and pedal steels.2004, Gene Santoro, Highway 61 Revisited

metalloid meaning in Tamil, Tagalog, Persian and Vietnamese

metalloid in Tamil

மாழையனையம்

metalloid in Tagalog

element
malametal

metalloid in Persian

element
شبهفلز šebh-e-felez

metalloid in Vietnamese

element
á kim

Forms of metalloid

Noun
pluralmetalloids
Adjective
comparativemore metalloid
superlativemost metalloid

Origin of metalloid

From metal + -oid.

Questions about metalloid

What does metalloid mean?
Metalloid means an element, such as silicon or germanium, intermediate in properties between that of a metal and a nonmetal; especially an elemental semiconductor.
What is metalloid in Tamil?
Metalloid in Tamil is மாழையனையம். See Metalloid meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is metalloid?
Metalloid can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce metalloid?
Metalloid is pronounced /ˈmɛtəlɔɪd/.
What is the plural of metalloid?
The plural of metalloid is metalloids.

Words near metalloid in the dictionary

  1. metallographists
  2. metallographs
  3. metallography
  4. metallohydrolase
  5. metallohydrolases
  6. metalloid
  7. metalloidal
  8. metalloids
  9. metalloimmunoassay
  10. metalloimmunoassays
  11. metalloisoenzyme

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: metalloid (page history and authors); metalloid (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-metalloid.wav.

Cite this entry: “metalloid.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/metalloid. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.