白金

Noun

 * 1)  platinum
 * 2) white gold
 * 3)  silver
 * 1) white gold
 * 2)  silver

Synonyms




Etymology 1
Originally from compound  in reference to. Consider, where shiro in isolation is spelled and kane in isolation is spelled.

Repurposed by as a compound of, in reference to the metal's , such as.

Noun

 * 1) platinum metal
 * 2)  silver, particularly silver powder used as a pigment

Usage notes
This reading hakkin is sometimes used erroneously to refer to, due to one of the literal interpretations of the characters in the kanji spelling. The reading shirokin (see below) appears in some reference works with the meaning, but the borrowed term is much more common.

Etymology 2
Compound of. The use of the for the first character and the  for the second character points to a more recent derivation.

Noun

 * 1)  white gold