nickel: [18] The element nickel was named in 1754 by the Swedish mineralogist Axel von Cronstedt. The word he chose was a truncated form of kupfernickel, a term formerly used by German miners for niccolite, a nickle-bearing ore. This meant literally ‘copperdemon’, an allusion probably to the fact that niccolite looks as though it contains copper, but does not. The -nickel part of the term represents a pet form of the name Nikolaus, perhaps chosen for its resemblance to German nix ‘water-sprite’. Nickel was first used for a US five-cent coin (made of a copper and nickel alloy) in the 1880s.
nickel (n.)
whitish metal element, 1755, coined in 1754 by Swedish mineralogist Axel von Cronstedt (1722-1765) from shortening of Swedish kopparnickel "copper-colored ore" (from which it was first obtained), a half-translation of German Kupfernickel, literally "copper demon," from Kupfer (see copper) + Nickel "demon, goblin, rascal" (a pet form of masc. proper name Nikolaus, compare English Old Nick "the devil;" see Nicholas); the ore so called by miners because it looked like copper but yielded none.
Meaning "coin made partly of nickel" is from 1857, when the U.S. introduced one-cent coins made of nickel to replace the old bulky copper pennies. Application to five-cent piece (originally one part nickel, three parts copper) is from 1883, American English; in earlier circulation there were silver half-dimes. To nickel-and-dime (someone) is from 1964 (nickels and dimes "very small amounts of money" is attested from 1893).
双语例句
1. Nickel can be used for making coins.
镍可做成钱币.
来自《简明英汉词典》
2. May I have a nickel?
能给我五分钱 吗 ?
来自《简明英汉词典》
3. In the squares place a penny, nickel, dime and quarter in that order. The object is to reverse the order of these coins.
在这些方块中按顺序放置1分、5分、10分和25分的硬币各一枚。目标是颠倒这些硬币的顺序。
来自柯林斯例句
4. He immediately used the same nickel to buy one of Billy's cakes.
他立即用同样的五美分币买了比利的一块蛋糕.
来自英语晨读30分（初二）
5. Metals commonly mixed with gold are nickel, platinum, and copper.