The English word metal is derived from the Latin word metallum, in turn derived from the Greek metallon, meaning a mine or quarry, as well as ore or metal. Thus, the word originally meant anything useful dug up from the ground, including stone, sand, clay or rocks. This meaning survives in the term road metal.
In music, metal (Heavy Metal) is a genre of music.
In astronomy, a metal is any element other than hydrogen or helium. This distinction is significant because hydrogen and helium (together with trace amounts of lithium) are the only elements that occur naturally without the fusion activity of stars. Thus, the metallicity of a galaxy or other object is an indication of past stellar activity.
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Metals are sometimes described as a lattice of positive ions (cations) surrounded by a cloud of delocalized electrons.
The metals are one of the three groups of elements as distinguished by their ionisation and bonding properties, along with the metalloids and nonmetals.
Some metals form a barrier layer of oxide on their surface which cannot be penetrated by further oxygen molecules and thus retain their shiny appearance and good conductivity for many decades (like aluminium, some steels, and titanium).
☞ The allusion is to the temper of the metal of a sword blade.
The metals are one of the three groups of elements as distinguished by their ionization and bonding properties, along with the metalloids and nonmetals.
Metals have certain characteristic physical properties: they are usually shiny (they have "lustre"), have a high density, are ductile and malleable, usually have a high melting point, are usually hard, and conduct electricity and heat well.
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