Words / B2

MURK-y-uh-ree/ˈmɜːkjəri/

Mercury is a liquid metal once common in thermometers, or the closest planet to the Sun: mercury in the barometer; the planet Mercury. Metal is the wider class; Hg is the symbol. On this paper the barometer is the metal. Mix-up: mercurial means changeable (already elsewhere); mercy is compassion (already elsewhere). Do not mix the planet and the metal in one unexplained sentence.

Meaning

A liquid metal used in some thermometers; also the closest planet to the Sun.

Examples

• “Mercury in the barometer is a metal, not the planet, on this paper.”
• “A transit of Mercury featured in the physics clip, which is the planet sense.”

Good to know

mercury (metal); Mercury (planet). Symbol: Hg. Trap: mercurial / mercy. Chemistry, physics, and geography. Liquid metal or a planet — label which.

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