argon

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin argon,^[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek ἀργόν (argón), the neuter of ἀργός (argós, “idle, inactive”),^[2][4][5][6] a contraction of ἀεργός (aergós, “not working”),^[7][8][9] formed from ἀ- (a-, “not, without”) and ἔργον (érgon, “work”).^[2][7][3] Etymonline glosses the adjective as lazy, idle, not working the ground, living without labour.^[3] The Greek noun goes back to Proto-Indo-European *werg- (“to do”), the root also of work.^[3][6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The inert gaseous chemical element: 1894, in the Daily News of 28 December.^[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

The gas was named in 1894 by its discoverers, Lord Rayleigh and Sir William Ramsay, for its inertness;^[3][4][10] Etymonline quotes their description of it as “most astonishingly indifferent”.^[3] Klein instead names Ramsay and Morris William Travers as the discoverers, and says it was so called because it does not readily unite with other elements.^[7] Ramsay went on to discover further gases of the same group, and in 1898 he and his associates named neon, krypton and xenon, also from Greek.^[10] The ending -on was then used for all the noble gases.^[1] The 1989 edition of the OED already mentioned its use in gas-filled electric lights;^[11] Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds its use as a protective atmosphere in welding.^[5]

Timeline

• 1894 – the name of the newly discovered gaseous element.^[2][3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A colourless, odourless and extremely unreactive gaseous chemical element, one of the noble gases, making up nearly one per cent of the atmosphere; symbol Ar, atomic number 18.^[12][5][2] It is used in electric light bulbs and as a shielding gas in welding.^[12][5][2]

Word family

• potassium-argon dating

Related words

• erg
• lethargy
• work

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins