nitric

Etymology

It is borrowed from French nitrique,^[2][3][4][5] recorded in French from 1787 in acide nitrique,^[2] formed from nitre and -ique.^[2][3] Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford take it as formed from nitre and -ic in English, perhaps immediately from French,^[6][7] and Dictionary.com says the English formation was modelled on the French word.^[8] Nitre goes back through Old French nitre to Latin nitrum, from Ancient Greek νίτρον (nítron).^[6][1][9] The OED compares New Latin nitricus, found in titles of works from 1801 or earlier, and the earlier English adjective nitrish.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of, containing or derived from nitre or nitric acid: 1788, in an English translation of a chemical work by Guyton de Morveau and others.^[2] The 1989 edition of the OED and Etymonline date the word to 1794,^[10][6] and Dictionary.com to 1785–95.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word first referred to the acid obtained by distilling saltpetre, which had been called aqua fortis and later acid spirit of nitre, and was renamed nitric acid in the chemical nomenclature ordered by Lavoisier.^[6] As chemistry identified nitrogen, the adjective came to mean "containing nitrogen", especially in a relatively high oxidation state, usually five, in contrast to nitrous.^[2][7][3] Nitric acid is recorded in English from 1790,^[2] the gas nitric oxide from the early 19th century in the 1989 edition of the OED.^[10]

Timeline

• 1788 – of, containing or derived from nitre; later, of or containing nitrogen in a higher oxidation state.^[2]
• 1790 – nitric acid.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, derived from or containing nitrogen, especially in a higher valence than in the corresponding nitrous compounds: nitric oxide.^[3][11][12]
2. Of, derived from or containing nitre.^[7][2]

Word family

• nitric acid
• nitric oxide

Related words

• nitre
• niter
• nitrous
• nitrogen
• nitrate
• natron

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins