oxide
Meaning of oxide: An oxide is any compound formed when oxygen chemically combines with another element, a category spanning substances as different as water, rust, and certain plant oils.
Definition of oxide
An oxide is a chemical compound formed when oxygen combines with another element. Because oxygen reacts readily with so many other elements, oxides are extremely common and widely varied, ranging from water, technically an oxide of hydrogen, to metal oxides such as iron oxide, commonly known as rust, and carbon dioxide, an oxide of carbon.
Some oxides are gases at ordinary temperatures, some are solids, and others exist as liquids or as components of more complex substances, including certain oils extracted from plants, where particular oxide compounds contribute to characteristic scent or chemical activity.
In a medical or biological context, oxides are relevant both as ordinary chemical building blocks, such as those making up much of the earth's crust and atmosphere, and as specific compounds studied for a particular biological effect, since the properties of an oxide can vary considerably depending on which element it involves.
Used in a sentence
The laboratory report described the compound as a metal oxide formed during the reaction.
Good to know
The word oxide covers an extremely broad range of substances, from water and rust to gases in the atmosphere, so identifying which specific oxide is meant requires knowing which element is involved.
Word origin
Where “oxide” comes from
Formed from French oxide, ultimately from Greek oxys, meaning sharp or acid, the same root that gives oxygen its name.