Naming
Historically referred to as Wolfram Wolf Rahm, wolframite ore discovered by Peter Woulfe was then later carburized and cemented with a binder creating a composite now called "Cemented Tungsten Carbide". Tungsten is Swedish for 'heavy stone'.
Colloquially among workers in various industries (such as machining and carpentry), tungsten carbide is often simply called carbide, despite the inaccuracy of the usage. Among the lay public, the growing popularity of tungsten carbide rings has also led to consumers calling the material just tungsten.