oxygen

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A colourless, odourless gas that humans and animals need to breathe and that makes up part of the air.

   Climbers carry bottles of oxygen to breathe high up on the mountain.

2. 2
   noun

   The chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8.

   Water is made of hydrogen and oxygen.

3. 3
   noun

   Something that allows an idea or situation to survive and grow.

   Constant media attention gave the scandal the oxygen it needed to spread.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ-der.? Ancient Greek ὀξύς (oxús) Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁os Proto-Hellenic *génos Ancient Greek γένος (génos) French oxygènebor. English oxygen Borrowed from French oxygène (originally in the form principe oxygène, a variant of principe oxigine ‘acidifying principle’, suggested by Lavoisier), from Ancient Greek ὀξύς (oxús, “sharp”) + γένος (génos, “birth”), referring to oxygen's supposed role in the formation of acids. By surface analysis, oxy- + -gen.

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