How the character is built
The 钅 radical marks this as a metal, and that is not a coincidence of this one character — it holds right across the table. Read the radical first and the element's state at room temperature is already settled. It is 金 (jīn) squeezed into the space beside another component — radicals change shape by position, which is why 金 is hard to spot until you know to look for 钅.
This character is used for the element and little else — you are unlikely to meet it outside a chemistry classroom.
The element itself
Strontium is the element behind red fireworks — nothing else gives that pure crimson so cheaply — and it is mined mostly as celestite, a mineral whose name refers to the pale blue that some crystals show. It is chemically so similar to calcium that living things incorporate it without noticing, and the ratio of strontium isotopes in bedrock varies from region to region, so the strontium locked into a person's or an animal's teeth records the geology of wherever they grew up. Archaeologists use this to trace migration in populations long dead.
Where it sits among the 118
First isolated in 1790.
The full entry
For stroke order, example sentences, audio and the complete set of meanings, see the dictionary entry.
锶Strontium in the dictionary →Others built the same way
Every one of these carries 钅, and every one is a metal.