Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Nitrogen
/ˈnaɪtrədʒən/noun
The colourless, unreactive gas that makes up about 78 per cent of the atmosphere, element number 7.
The Greek roots
νίτρον
nítron
natron, soda
-γενής
-genḗs
producing, born of
Literally: “nitre-producing”
The story of the word
Jean-Antoine Chaptal coined nitrogène in 1790 on the grounds that the gas is what nitre, potassium nitrate, is made from. Lavoisier had pushed for azote, meaning without life, since anything breathing it alone suffocates, and French and Greek both kept that name to this day. English took Chaptal's word, which is why the symbol is N and not A. Νίτρον is itself a loan into Greek, from Egyptian ntry by way of Semitic, so the element's name is only half Greek.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → French → English
- First recorded
- 1794
Same family
nitrateoxygenhydrogengenesis
In a sentence
Liquid nitrogen boils at minus 196 degrees, which is why the ice cream freezes instantly.