Carbide is the nomenclature used to describe tungsten that is alloyed with other trace elements and a binder (Nickel) to make it more scratch resistant metal. This process is similar to the process iron goes through to become steel. All tungsten rings are actually tungsten carbide, it is just that most people prefer to refer to it as simply "tungsten".
After the discovery of a heavy mineral termed "tung-sten" (Swedish for heavy stone), there followed the isolation of tungsten trioxide and the reduction of the mineral wolframite to tungsten metal in the 1700s.