# chemical nomenclature

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chemical-nomenclature/293284>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 7, 2005, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chemical-nomenclature/293284 "2005-03-07T01:33:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Silme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Silme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silme)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chemical-nomenclature/293284/1 "2005-03-07T01:33:16Z")

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My 8 year old asked me during our homeschool science class one day, why the gasses all seem to end in “gen”. Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen. I pointed out to him those which end differently, such as the nobel gasses, but I didn’t have an answer to his question. Does anyone here know?

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**Author:** ![Dancer\_Flight](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dancer_flight/32/7601_2.png) [@Dancer\_Flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dancer_Flight)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chemical-nomenclature/293284/2 "2005-03-07T01:43:50Z")

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> [@Silme](#):
>
> My 8 year old asked me during our homeschool science class one day, why the gasses all seem to end in “gen”. Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen. I pointed out to him those which end differently, such as the nobel gasses, but I didn’t have an answer to his question. Does anyone here know?

Gen = Maker, Forming.

Hydrogen = Waterforming,  
Unfortunately I do not recall the meaning of the Oxy- and Nitro- prefixes.

-DF

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**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chemical-nomenclature/293284/3 "2005-03-07T01:47:13Z")

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[This should help](http://www.nexusresearchgroup.com/fun_science/elements.htm).

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chemical-nomenclature/293284/4 "2005-03-07T01:48:40Z")

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Oxy- means ‘sharp’, because it was thought all acids contained oxygen. Nitro- comes from nitron, which means ‘native soda’, whatever that means.

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**Author:** ![James\_Westphal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@James\_Westphal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Westphal)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chemical-nomenclature/293284/5 "2005-03-07T09:56:14Z")

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sharp, keen, acute, pungent, acid

> [@](#):
>
> Ancient writers used the etyma of nitre for various alkaline salts

This goes back to ancient Egypt.

Native soda refers to a naturally occurring sodium substance or salt, a mix of sodium bicarbonate and sodium chloride (table salt) usually, or in this case sodium nitrate. The name nitrogen came AFTER nitric acid, and I am led to believe that nitric acid was distilled from sodium nitrate, and nitrogen referred to the discovery by a french chemist that nitrogen was a component of nitric acid.