carbide

Etymology

It is formed from English carb- + -ide, the combining form of carbon with the chemical suffix -ide.^[2][3][4][5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Webster's Third class it as an International Scientific Vocabulary formation.^[6][7] The name of the element was coined in French by Lavoisier from Latin carbō (“a coal, glowing coal; charcoal”),^[3] and the suffix -ide was abstracted from oxide, where French -ide imitated the ending of acide (“acid”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A compound of carbon with another element, such as hydrogen or a metal: about 1865, in J. Wylde's The Circle of the Sciences.^[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also date it to about 1865,^[4][6] and Dictionary.com to 1860–65,^[8] but Etymonline records the word from 1848.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word replaced the older chemical term carburet, recorded from 1788 for the same kind of compound; when the OED first published carbide in 1888 it still called it less usual than carburet.^[2][3] It was soon used in particular for calcium carbide, which yields acetylene when it reacts with water.^[2][5] In the 20th century it also came to name very hard materials made from the carbides of heavy metals such as tungsten, bound together and used for cutting tools.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1848 – a compound of carbon with another element, as Etymonline dates it; the OED's first record is from about 1865.^[3][2]
• c. 1865 – specifically, calcium carbide.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A binary compound of carbon with an element that is more electropositive, such as a metal: The saw blade has carbide teeth.^[6][9][5]
2. Calcium carbide, used to produce acetylene gas.^[9][5][2]
3. A very hard material made from powdered carbides of heavy metals such as tungsten and titanium, used in metal-cutting tools; also called cemented carbide.^[6][7]

Word family

• boron carbide
• calcium carbide
• silicon carbide
• tungsten carbide

Related words

• carbon
• carburet
• oxide

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins