# Hydrogen PERoxide ... Potassium PERmanganate ... what does the PER- prefix indicate?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydrogen-peroxide-potassium-permanganate-what-does-the-per-prefix-indicate/109069>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 14, 2002, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydrogen-peroxide-potassium-permanganate-what-does-the-per-prefix-indicate/109069 "2002-05-14T19:52:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydrogen-peroxide-potassium-permanganate-what-does-the-per-prefix-indicate/109069/21 "2002-05-15T19:25:44Z")

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**Beeblerox** , speaking of dihydrogen monoxide and cancer, did you know that it’s been proven that ALL cancer patients have a lifelong history of regularly ingesting DHMO?

Scary stuff :rolleyes:

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**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydrogen-peroxide-potassium-permanganate-what-does-the-per-prefix-indicate/109069/22 "2002-05-15T19:58:32Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Wisest Novel \*  
> \*\*But as funny as that site is, you should really throw in a smiley or something, lest a newbie see it and freak. \*\*

Good point. Sometimes I have too much faith in the intelligece of my fellow human beings. Makes me wonder if I freaked out any of the undergrads when I taped the MSDS to the distilled H[sub]2[/sub]O tank when I ran a lab a few years back. 😉

Anyhow, one of the reasons I posted it was that **bordelond** was wondering what chemical name to use, and the site uses “dihydrogen monoxide”, “hydrogen hydroxide”, “dihydrogenoxide”, and “oxygendihydride”. AFAIK, there is no “official” name.

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydrogen-peroxide-potassium-permanganate-what-does-the-per-prefix-indicate/109069/23 "2002-05-15T20:22:09Z")

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Jeez, can’t anybody read a freakin’ dictionary?

Per-, in both the chemical sense and the literary sense (_perfervid_), means “through, throughout, thoroughly”; it comes from the Latin preposition _per_, also meaning “through.”

It has **nothing** to do with the Greek _hyper_, which means “over.”

The “per” which means “each” dates back to 1899, and is unclear in its derivatoion, though it’s probably derived from the earlier _per_.

BTW, the chemical explanations here are essentially correct.

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hydrogen-peroxide-potassium-permanganate-what-does-the-per-prefix-indicate/109069/24 "2002-05-15T20:25:22Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Beeblebrox \*  
> \*\*Anyhow, one of the reasons I posted it was that **bordelond** was wondering what chemical name to use, and the site uses “dihydrogen monoxide”, “hydrogen hydroxide”, “dihydrogenoxide”, and “oxygendihydride”. AFAIK, there is no “official” name. \*\*

How about “hydroxylic acid”?

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