Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Oxide
/ˈɒksaɪd/noun
A compound of oxygen with another element.
The Greek roots
ὀξύς
oxýs
sharp, acid
-γενής
-genḗs
producing, born of
Literally: “acid-maker compound”
The story of the word
Lavoisier's circle rebuilt chemical naming in 1787 and needed a word for what a metal becomes when it burns. They cut it out of oxygène, itself ὀξύς, sharp or sour, plus a producing element, because Lavoisier believed oxygen was the thing that made acids acidic. He was wrong; hydrogen does that job. The mistake is now stamped on every oxide in the periodic table.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → French coinage → English
- First recorded
- late 18th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
oxygenperoxideoxymoronparoxysm
In a sentence
Rust is iron oxide, and the flaking is what makes it so destructive.