köken: First appears in Japanese in the 1713 edition of the 和漢三才図会 (Wakan Sansai Zue, “Illustrated Sino-Japanese Encyclopedia”). Appears to be a Japanese coinage as 亜 (a, “next, sub-”) + 鉛 (en, “lead”, the metal), probably from the way that zinc is often found together with lead in ores. Probably influenced by early Hokkien 倭鉛 /倭铅 (e-iân), early Mandarin 倭鉛 /倭铅 (wōqiān, literally “Japanese lead”).
köken: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- Proto-Indo-European *-ónts Proto-Indo-European *h₃dóntsder. Proto-Germanic *tindaz Old High German zint? Old High German zinko Middle High German zinke German Zinke? German Zinkbor. Polish cynk Borrowed from German Zink. Doublet of cynek.
köken: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- Proto-Indo-European *-ónts Proto-Indo-European *h₃dóntsder. Proto-Germanic *tindaz Old High German zint? Old High German zinko Middle High German zinke German Zinke? German Zinkbor. Latin zincum Borrowed from German Zink.
köken: Possibly from the mistranscription of French zinc (“zinc”) [zɛ̃ɡ] or zingage (“galvanization”) [zɛ̃.ɡaʒ]. Cognate with Khmer ស័ង្កសី (sangkaʼsəy), Lao ສັງກະສີ (sang ka sī).