oxide

Etymology

It is borrowed from French oxide, now spelled oxyde,^[2][3][4][5] coined in 1787 by the French chemists Guyton de Morveau and Lavoisier^[6][3][7] from oxygène (“oxygen”) and the ending of acide (“acid”).^{[2][6][8][4][9]} The French word first appeared in the “Méthode de nomenclature chimique” of 1787, and the spelling oxyde became the usual French form from 1801.^[2] Weekley and Klein trace the first part to Ancient Greek ὀξύς (oxús, “sharp, sour”), the source of oxygen.^[7][10] The OED compares German Oxid, formerly Oxyd, Swedish oxid and Italian ossido, all from the 1790s.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A compound of oxygen with another element or with an organic radical: 1788, in the English translation by J. St John of the “Méthode de nomenclature chimique” of Guyton de Morveau and his colleagues.^[2][5] Etymonline and Barnhart date the English word to 1790.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its chemical meaning since it was coined.^[2][11] The OED thinks the English spelling oxid was first remodelled after acid, and in some later, especially American, use after the suffix -ide; spellings with -y-, as in French, follow oxygen.^[2] Oxid is still listed as a variant by Dictionary.com, and oxyde as a less common one by Merriam-Webster.^[12][5] A verb oxide, meaning to oxidize, borrowed from French, was used from 1798 to 1806.^[2] Barnhart dates the related oxidation to 1791 and oxidize to 1802.^[3]

Timeline

• 1787 – French oxide coined by Guyton de Morveau and Lavoisier.^[2][6]
• 1788 – first English record, a compound of oxygen with another element.^[2][5]
• 1790 – first date in Etymonline and Barnhart.^[6][3]
• 1798–1806 – the verb oxide, to oxidize.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A compound of oxygen with another element: Rust is mostly an oxide of iron.^[13][5][2]
2. A compound in which oxygen is joined to an organic radical or groups, such as an ether or an epoxide.^[13][5][2]

Word family

• oxidic

Related words

• oxidant
• oxidase
• oxidate
• oxidoreductase
• oxygen
• acid
• oxidize
• oxidation
• peroxide

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins