Nitrogen
/ˈnaɪ.trə.dʒən/noun
A colorless, odorless chemical element that makes up most of Earth’s atmosphere and is essential to life.
Did you know?The name was coined in the 1790s from Greek nitron (“native soda, saltpeter”) + -genēs (“producing”), because early chemists thought of it as a substance that helped form saltpeter.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
Greek
nitron
“Native soda or mineral alkali, later associated with saltpeter in chemical naming”
Ancient Greek
Greek
-genēs
“Born, produced by, or causing to produce”
Late 18th Century
French
nitrogène
“A proposed name for the gas component of air that did not support combustion”
1790s
English
nitrogen
“The chemical element name adopted into English from French scientific usage”
Modern English
English
nitrogen
“The element with atomic number 7, a major component of the atmosphere”