Chloride

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈklɔːˌɹaɪd/

Definitions

1. A chemical substance created when chlorine combines with other elements, often appearing as an ionic compound or salt that serves various practical purposes
2. A type of ionic compound resulting from the interaction of chlorine and another element, frequently found in diverse applications and existing in both organic and inorganic states
3. A substance formed by the reaction of chlorine with another element, typically existing as a salt or ionic compound used in a variety of applications

Etymology: Chlorine was itself only a few decades old when this word appeared. Chemists in the late 1700s, including Carl Wilhelm Scheele, had worked with the greenish gas, and in 1810 Humphry Davy proposed the name "chlorine" from the Greek "chlōros", meaning pale green or yellow-green, after its colour. Two years later, in 1812, Davy coined "chloride" by attaching the ending "-ide" to that new name, creating a family of terms for compounds containing the element. The ending itself was a deliberate choice. Chemists of the period were building a systematic vocabulary in which "-ide" marked a binary compound of an element with a non-metal or another element, so the suffix told a reader at once what kind of substance was meant. Davy's pattern is the same one that later gave English words such as "oxide" and "sulphide" their shape, which is why the word looks so regular to a modern eye.

Synonyms: salt, halide