Peroxyacids

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Strong oxidizing acids that contain an oxygen-oxygen bond, such as peroxymonosulfuric acid, used in bleaching and disinfection
2. Chemical compounds whose molecules include a peroxide linkage and which act as powerful oxidizing agents in industrial processes
3. A class of acidic substances bearing the peroxy group, valued as oxidants for bleaching, sterilizing and synthesis work

Etymology: "Peroxyacids" is the plural of "peroxyacid", a compound built from two parts: "peroxy-", a chemical prefix, and "acid". The plural simply counts several members of this class of compounds. Each part carries its own history: "acid" comes from the Latin "acidus", meaning sour, while "peroxy-" is a modern chemical combining form built from "peroxide", which describes compounds containing an oxygen-oxygen bond. The sense of "peroxy-" is what makes the word precise. In chemistry it marks a group in which two oxygen atoms are linked to each other, and attaching that group to an acid produces a peroxyacid. The word's meaning therefore points to structure rather than to a name for a single substance, which is why chemists can speak of a family of such compounds in the plural.