hydrogen

Syllables: hy·dro·genUK/ˈhaɪdɹəd͡ʒ(ə)n/

More pronunciations (2)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈhɑɪdɹəd͡ʒ(ə)n/

hydrogen noun: the lightest chemical element (symbol H), with an atomic number of 1 and atomic weight of 1.008.

Noun

hydrogen (countable and uncountable, plural hydrogens)

(uncountable) The lightest chemical element (symbol H), with an atomic number of 1 and atomic weight of 1.008.
- Our professor then reminded us that a hydrogen ion is merely a proton, and thus we should think about acid-base theory as we consider this problem further.
- The ignis fatuus or Jack a lantern, ſo frequently alluded to by poets, is ſuppoſed to originate from the inflammable air, or Hydrogene, given up from moraſſes; […]1791, [Erasmus Darwin], “Canto I”, in The Botanic Garden; a Poem, in Two Parts. […], London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, part I (The Economy of Vegetation), footnote, page 18
1. (countable) An atom of this element.
  - Each carbon of the ring has one hydrogen attached except for the fourth one, which is bonded to a substituent.
  - Water occupies an intermediate position and shows tendencies both to add and give up hydrogen, which are nearly balanced. Then, in terms of the Lewis theory, a free pair of electrons on one water molecule might be able to exert sufficient force on a hydrogen held by a pair of electrons on another...1920 July, Wendell M[itchell] Latimer, Worth H. Rodebush, “Polarity and Ionization from the Standpoint of the Lewis Theory of Valence”, in Arthur B. Lamb, editor, The Journal of the American Chemical...
(uncountable) Molecular hydrogen (sense 1; symbol H₂), a colourless, odourless and flammable gas at room temperature.
- A large tank of hydrogen constituted most of the bulk of that rocket.
- [Jacques] Charles was the first to send up a hydrogen balloon, 12 feet in diameter, which rose 3,123 feet, disappeared in the clouds, and fell at the distance of 15 miles.1845 February 8, “Balloons”, in Theodore Dwight, Jr., editor, American Penny Magazine, and Family Newspaper, volume I, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Express Office, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 12, column 1
1. (countable) A molecule of this molecular species.
(uncountable) Synonym of protium (“the lightest and most common isotope of hydrogen (sense 1; symbol H, ¹H, or 11H), as contrasted with deuterium and tritium”).
- Both hydrogen and deuterium are present in every glass of water that you drink, but the amount of deuterium is rather small.
- Hydrogen is generally considered to be electronically the same as deuterium. […] Neutron diffraction experiments by Ferguson, Schindler, Tanaka, and Morita (ref. 4) revealed that, near 50K, some hydrogen had moved from interstitial octahedral sites (0, 0, 1/2; 1/2, 0, 0; …) of the palladium lattice...1969 September, Dumas A. Otterson, Robert J. Smith, “Introduction”, in Absorption of Hydrogen by Palladium and Electrical Resistivity up to Hydrogen-Palladium Atom Ratios of 0.97 (NASA Technical...
Synonyms:

protium

hydrogen meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

hydrogen in Hindi

lightest chemical element: उदजन udjan, हाइड्रोजन hāiḍrojan
molecular hydrogen; molecule of this molecular species: उदजन udjan

hydrogen in Tamil

lightest chemical element: நீரகம் nīrakam, ஹைட்ரஜன் haiṭrajaṉ

hydrogen in Marathi

lightest chemical element: उदजन udjan

hydrogen in Urdu

lightest chemical element: ہائیڈروجن hāiḍrojan

More languagesFewer languages

hydrogen in Bengali: উদজান udojan, হাইড্রোজেন haiḍrōjen
hydrogen in Telugu: ఉదజని udajani, హైడ్రోజన్ haiḍrōjan
hydrogen in Malayalam: ജലവായു jalavāyu, ഹൈഡ്രജൻ haiḍrajaṉ
hydrogen in Kannada: ಜಲಜನಕ jalajanaka
hydrogen in Punjabi: ਉਦਜਨ udajan
hydrogen in Gujarati: ઉદજન udajan
hydrogen in Odia: ଉଦ୍ଜାନ udjāna
hydrogen in Sanskrit: उदजन udajana
hydrogen in Sinhala: ජලකර jalakara
hydrogen in Nepali: उदजन udajan
hydrogen in Pashto: هايډروجن hayḍroǰán
hydrogen in Tagalog: idroheno
hydrogen in Arabic: هَيْدُرُوجِين haydurūjīn, هِيدْرُوجِين hīdrūjīn
hydrogen in Malay: hidrogen, zat air
hydrogen in Indonesian: hidrogen, zat air
hydrogen in Persian: هیدروژن hidrožen
hydrogen in Thai: ไฮโดรเจน hai-droo-jeen
hydrogen in Vietnamese: hiđrô, hi-đrô, hyđrô, hy-đrô
hydrogen in Myanmar: ဟိုက်ဒရိုဂျင် huikda.ruigyang
Sindhi: उदजन udjan

Examples of hydrogen in a sentence

Water is the sole product of the combustion of hydrogen gas.1827, Edward Turner, “Section IV. Hydrogen.”, in Elements of Chemistry: Including the Recent Discoveries and Doctrines of the Science...
Water occupies an intermediate position and shows tendencies both to add and give up hydrogen, which are nearly balanced.1920 July, Wendell M[itchell] Latimer, Worth H. Rodebush, “Polarity and Ionization from the Standpoint of the Lewis Theory of Valence”, in...
Those attached to primary carbons are classified as primary hydrogens, those on secondary carbons are secondary hydrogens, and those on tertiary carbons are tertiary hydrogens.1995, William H. Brown, “Alkanes and Cycloalkanes”, in Organic Chemistry, Fort Worth, Tex.; Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders College Publishing...

All 40 example sentences with hydrogen

Synonyms of hydrogen

All synonyms of hydrogen

Forms of hydrogen

plural	hydrogens

Plural of hydrogen: hydrogens

Origin of hydrogen

Borrowed from French hydrogène (“hydrogen”), coined by the French chemists Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau (1737–1816) and Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794) from hydro- (prefix meaning ‘water’) + -gène (suffix denoting a producer of something), from the fact that water is produced as a compound when hydrogen is oxidized. * The prefix hydro- is borrowed from Ancient Greek ῠ̔δρο- (hŭdro-), from ῡ̆̔́δωρ (hū̆́dōr, “water”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water”). * The suffix -gène is borrowed from Ancient Greek -γενής (-genḗs, suffix meaning ‘born in a certain condition or place’), from γένος (génos, “descendant, offspring; race; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget, produce; to give birth”)) + -ης (-ēs, suffix forming some third-declension adjectives). By surface analysis, hydro- (prefix meaning ‘water’) + -gen (suffix denoting a producer of something).

Words formed from hydrogen

Phrases with hydrogen

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Words that rhyme with hydrogen

Questions about hydrogen

What does hydrogen mean?: Hydrogen means the lightest chemical element (symbol H), with an atomic number of 1 and atomic weight of 1.008.
What is hydrogen in Hindi?: Hydrogen in Hindi is उदजन (udjan), हाइड्रोजन (hāiḍrojan). See Hydrogen meaning in Hindi.
How do you use hydrogen in a sentence?: Water is the sole product of the combustion of hydrogen gas.
What part of speech is hydrogen?: Hydrogen is a noun.
How do you pronounce hydrogen?: Hydrogen is pronounced /ˈhaɪdɹəd͡ʒ(ə)n/ (UK).
What is the plural of hydrogen?: The plural of hydrogen is hydrogens.

Words near hydrogen in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: hydrogen (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-hydrogen.wav, En-us-hydrogen.ogg.

Cite this entry: “hydrogen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hydrogen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.