peroxide

Etymology

It is formed from English per- + oxide,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} by the chemist Thomas Thomson.^[4][2] The prefix, from Latin per (“through”),^[8] marks in chemical names the greatest or a large proportion of an element.^[3][2][8] The noun oxide is from French oxide, coined in 1787 by the French chemists Guyton de Morveau and Lavoisier from oxygène and acide.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In chemistry, the oxide of an element that holds the greatest possible proportion of oxygen: 1804, in Thomas Thomson's System of Chemistry.^[2][4][3] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1795–1805.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In chemistry the word now usually names a compound with two oxygen atoms bonded to each other.^[2][5][10] The everyday use began in the United States: from 1889 peroxide was short for hydrogen peroxide, used as a bleach and disinfectant, and so also for hair bleached with it.^[2] The adjective, of bleached blonde hair, and the verb, to bleach hair with peroxide, both appear in 1899, the adjective in George Ade's Fables in Slang.^[2][10] From 1903 a peroxide was a person with bleached hair,^[2] and the phrase peroxide blonde is attested from 1918.^[4][5]

Timeline

• 1804 – the oxide with the most oxygen.^[2][4][3]
• 1889 – hydrogen peroxide as a bleach; bleached hair.^[2]
• 1899 – adjective, of hair: bleached; verb, to bleach hair with peroxide.^[2][10]
• 1903 – a person with bleached blonde hair.^[2]
• 1918 – peroxide blonde.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Hydrogen peroxide, especially as a bleach for hair or as a disinfectant.^[11][2]
2. (chemistry) A compound containing two oxygen atoms bonded to each other, such as sodium peroxide.^[11][10][2]
3. (chemistry, not in technical use) An oxide with a relatively high proportion of oxygen, such as some dioxides.^[11][10]
4. (colloquial) A person with bleached blonde hair.^[2][5]

Adjective

1. (colloquial) Of hair: bleached with peroxide; of a person, having such hair: a peroxide blonde.^[2][5]

Verb

1. To bleach hair with peroxide: She peroxided her fringe for the concert.^[10][2]

Word family

• peroxidic
• hydroperoxide
• peroxidation
• peroxidize
• peroxidase
• hydrogen peroxide

Related words

• oxygen

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 n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins