palladium

Meaning

Noun

• A safeguard.
• A chemical element (symbol Pd) with an atomic number of 46: a rare, lustrous silvery-white metal.
• A single atom of this element.

Origin

• The sense of "safeguard" comes from Latin Palladium (the image of Pallas that protected Troy), from Ancient Greek Παλλάδιον, from Παλλάς, an alternative name for Athena.
• The element was named after w:Pallas, an asteroid that had been discovered two years before the element.