Plutonium was coined in the 1940s from the name of the dwarf planet Pluto, following the naming convention of uranium and neptunium, with Pluto itself deriving from Latin "Pluto," meaning "wealth" or "riches."
A radioactive metallic element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94, used as a fuel in nuclear reactors and in the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
Coined in 1940–1941 by American chemist Glenn T. Seaborg and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, after the dwarf planet Pluto, following the naming convention established by uranium (named after Uranus) and neptunium (named after Neptune) — the three outermost bodies of the solar system mapped onto three consecutive transuranium elements. Pluto itself was named after the Greek god 'Ploutōn' (Πλούτων), lord of the underworld, whose name derives from 'ploutos' (πλοῦτος, wealth, riches), from PIE *plew- (to flow, to swim, to float). The connection between
Plutonium is named after the dwarf planet Pluto, which was discovered just a few years before the element was identified, reflecting the tradition of naming elements after celestial bodies.