▸ noun the chemical element of atomic number 31, a soft silvery-white metal which melts at about 30°C, just above room temperature. (Symbol: Ga)
– ORIGIN late 19th century: modern Latin, from Latin Gallia ‘France’ or gallus ‘cock’; named (either patriotically or as a translation of his own name) by Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran (1838–1912), the French chemist who discovered it in 1875.