What element has the symbol 'Dy'?

The story behind the answer

Dy is the chemical symbol for Dysprosium, a silvery lanthanide (atomic number 66). The other options are incorrect: Dubnium’s symbol is Db, while “Dicarbon” (C2) and “Dihydrogen” (H2) are molecules, not elemental names.

Dysprosium’s name comes from the Greek “dysprositos,” meaning “hard to get,” reflecting how difficult rare-earth elements were to isolate. It’s prized for strengthening high-performance magnets (helping them keep magnetism at high temperatures) and for its strong neutron-absorption in nuclear control rods. Memory tip: Dy = DYS-prosium; think “DYs is Difficult to get,” linking Dy to its “difficult” Greek root and to the rare-earth family.