Xenotime is used chiefly as a source of yttrium and heavy lanthanide metals (dysprosium, ytterbium, erbium and gadolinium).

It was coined by French mineralogist François Sulpice Beudant as a rebuke of another scientist, Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius, for the latter's premature claim to have found in the mineral a new chemical element (later understood to be previously discovered yttrium).

The criticism was blunted, as over time kenotime was misread and misprinted xenotime[2][3][5] with the error suggesting the etymology xénos (ξένος) + timē (τιμή) as 'different honor'.

Xenotime has a variable habit: It may be prismatic (stubby or slender and elongate) with dipyramidal terminations, in radial or granular aggregates, or rosettes.

Occurring as a minor accessory mineral, xenotime is found in pegmatites and other igneous rocks, as well as gneisses rich in mica and quartz.

A new discovery of gemmy, colour change (brownish to yellow) xenotime has been reported from Afghanistan and been found in Pakistan.

North of Mount Funabuse in Gifu Prefecture, Japan, a notable basaltic rock is quarried at a hill called Maru-Yama: crystals of xenotime and zircon arranged in a radiating, flower-like pattern are visible in polished slices of the rock, which is known as chrysanthemum stone (translated from the Japanese 菊石 kiku-ishi).