Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Phosgene
/ˈfɒzdʒiːn/noun
A colourless toxic gas, carbonyl chloride, used in industry and once used as a chemical weapon.
The Greek roots
φῶς
phōs
light
-γενής
-genḗs
born, produced
Literally: “born of light”
The story of the word
John Davy made the gas in 1812 by leaving carbon monoxide and chlorine in sunlight, and named it for how it was born. A century later the same compound was released at Ypres and killed more soldiers than any other gas of the First World War. The φῶς in it is the same light that gives us phosphorus, the light-bearer.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1812
Same family
phosphorusphotonoxygengenesis
In a sentence
Phosgene smells faintly of cut hay, which is part of what made it so dangerous.