hydrogen
pronunciation
How to pronounce hydrogen in British English:
UK [ˈhaɪdrədʒən]
How to pronounce hydrogen in American English:
US [ˈhaɪdrədʒən]
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- Noun:
- a nonmetallic univalent element that is normally a colorless and odorless highly flammable diatomic gas; the simplest and lightest and most abundant element in the universe
Word Origin
- hydrogen
- hydrogen: [18] Greek húdōr ‘water’ (a distant relative of English water) has been a prolific source of English vocabulary. Amongst its contributions are hydrangea [18] (literally ‘water-vessel’, so named from the cuplike shape of its seedpods), hydrant [19], hydrate [18], hydraulic [17] (literally ‘of a water-pipe’), hydrofoil [20], and hydroponics [20] (literally ‘water-culture’). Hydrogen itself means literally ‘generating water’, and was coined in French as hydrogène in the late 1780s for hydrogen’s property of forming water when oxidized. It is first recorded in English in 1791.=> water
- hydrogen (n.)
- 1791, from French hydrogène, coined 1787 by G. de Morveau, Lavoisier, Berthollet, and Fourcroy from Greek hydr-, stem of hydor "water" (see water (n.1)) + French -gène "producing" (see -gen). So called because it forms water when exposed to oxygen. Nativized in Russian as vodorod; in German, it is wasserstoff, "water-stuff." An earlier name for it in English was Cavendish's inflammable air (1767). Hydrogen bomb first recorded 1947; shortened form H-bomb is from 1950.
Example
- 1. Even hydrogen fuel cells still have their supporters .
- 2. One of the other potential by-products of such overheating is hydrogen .
- 3. No hydrogen means no water .
- 4. One-ninth of all water on earth is hydrogen .
- 5. Hydrogen has long been touted as the future of energy .