Oxygens

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. refers to multiple instances or variants of the essential element for respiration and combustion
2. indicates various forms of this colorless, odorless gas vital for life and numerous industrial processes
3. Consists of different forms or molecules of a crucial element that supports life and plays a key role in combustion processes

Etymology: The plural "oxygens" refers to distinct forms of the element, such as oxygen in its ordinary molecular state and ozone, which is built from three oxygen atoms. The singular "oxygen" is the base word, and its origin is a chemist's mistake that stuck. Antoine Lavoisier, the French chemist who named the element, believed that oxygen was the principle that made acids. He combined the Greek "oxús", meaning "sharp" or "acid", with "génos", meaning "birth" or "producer", to get a name meaning roughly "acid-former." The name was first proposed as "principe oxygène", a variant of "principe oxigine", which is where the modern French "oxygène" came from. English borrowed the French form. Oxygen does not actually make acids in the way Lavoisier thought. The name stayed anyway, so the word now describes an element that is not in every acid, and the chemistry it was named for turned out to be wrong.

Synonyms: O2 molecules, dioxygen, oxygen gas

Antonyms: anoxia, carbon dioxide, nitrogen