alumino-, alumin-
(Latin: aluminum [U.S.] and aluminium, [British])
This term was coined in 1812 by its discoverer, the British chemist Sir Humphry Davy, as an alteration of the earlier [1808] New Latin alumium, that was also coined by Sir Davy from alumina, a mineral occurring in nature as corundum plus -ium, a suffix meaning, in this case, "metal").
The variant form aluminium, which is preferred in British usage, also appeared in 1812 as a deliberate alteration of aluminum in order to eliminate confusion because of the partial resemblance to other names of certain elements, such as sodium, potassium, and magnesium, all of which were coined earlier by Sir Davy.
This spelling is used widely throughout the world, and was used in the United States before 1927 where the preferred spelling is now aluminum.
Aluminoid used to be a proprietary name for aluminum hydroxide gel.
The pure metal is silvery white and light in weight, having a specific gravity of 2.7. One stable isotope (aluminum 47) occurs naturally, and six unstable isotopes are known.