Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Hydride
/ˈhaɪdraɪd/noun
A compound of hydrogen with another element, especially one in which hydrogen carries a negative charge.
The Greek roots
ὕδωρ
húdōr
water
Literally: “of the water-former”
Follow a root:ὕδωρ26 words
The story of the word
Hydrogen was named in Lavoisier's new chemical nomenclature of 1787 as the water-former, because burning it produced water and nothing else. Hydride is the back-formation for what hydrogen makes when it takes the electron rather than giving it up. The same ὕδωρ turns up in hydra, the water snake, and in the hydrant on the pavement.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
hydrogenhydratehydradehydrate
In a sentence
Metal hydrides can store hydrogen at far lower pressures than a gas cylinder.