Lavoisier named 'oxygen' meaning 'acid-maker' in 1777 — based on his mistaken belief that all acids contain it.
Definition
A chemical element (atomic number 8), a colorless, odorless gas essential for combustion and respiration, constituting about 21% of Earth's atmosphere.
The Full Story
French (from Greek)1777well-attested
Coined in 1789 by French chemist Antoine Lavoisier from Greek oxys (sharp, acid, pungent) and the suffix -genēs (producing, born of), from Greek genos (birth, race). Lavoisier named theelement oxygène because he erroneously believed that all acids contained this element (oxy-gen = acid-producer). The element oxys derives from the PIE root *h₂eḱ- (sharp, pointed), which is richly attested across Indo-European: it produced Latin acus (needle — hence English
), Latin acer (sharp — hence English acrid, acerbic, acumen, acute), Latin acidus (sour — hence English acid), Greek akros (topmost — hence English acrobat, acropolis), and Old English ecg (edge — hence English edge). The suffix -gen
*ǵenh₁- (to beget, produce), yielding Latin genus (birth, kind — hence English genus, gender, generate, gene), Greek genesis (origin), and English kin (from Proto-
of the foundational terms of modern chemistry. Key roots: oxys (Greek: "sharp, keen, acid"), -genēs (Greek: "producing, born of, begetting"), *ǵenh₁- (Proto-Indo-European: "to give birth, to beget"), *h₂eḱ- (Proto-Indo-European: "sharp, pointed").