Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Antioxidant
/ˌæntiˈɑksɪdənt/noun
A substance that slows or prevents damage caused by oxidation.
The Greek roots
ἀντί
antí
against, opposite
ὀξύς
oxýs
sharp, acid
-γενής
-genḗs
producing, born of
Literally: “against the acid-maker”
The story of the word
Lavoisier named oxygen in 1777 from ὀξύς and -γενής, acid-producer, on the belief that every acid contained it. Hydrochloric acid proves him wrong, but the name outlived the theory in every European language, and German's Sauerstoff is a word-for-word translation of the same mistake. Antioxidants were industrial chemistry long before they were nutrition: compounds added to rubber, fuel and paint to stop them going off. The health claims came much later and remain a good deal softer than the packaging suggests.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
oxygenoxideoxymoronparoxysm
In a sentence
The label promised antioxidants, which is true of almost any plant you can eat.