oxygen

/ˈɒksɪd͡ʒən/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ˈɔksɪd͡ʒən/

oxygen noun: the chemical element (symbol O) with an atomic number of 8 and relative atomic mass of 15.9994. It is a colorless and odorless gas. Sometimes called elemental oxygen to distinguish it from molecular oxygen.

Image: U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Jim Araos, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

oxygen (countable and uncountable, plural oxygens)

The chemical element (symbol O) with an atomic number of 8 and relative atomic mass of 15.9994. It is a colorless and odorless gas. Sometimes called elemental oxygen to distinguish it from molecular oxygen.
- Holonyms: dioxygen, O₂, oxygen (loose sense)
- By molar fraction, calcium oxide contains equal parts calcium and oxygen.
Synonyms:

sourstuff, E948[packaging gas]]>
(loose but very common, even in formal use) Molecular oxygen (O₂), a colorless, odorless gas at room temperature.
- Meronym: oxygen (strict sense)
- About 21% of the air you breathe is oxygen.
Synonyms:

dioxygen
A mixture of oxygen and other gases, administered to a patient to help them breathe.
(countable) An atom of this element.
- Look first at any structure to see if there is a carbon with two oxygens attached. Hemiacetals, hemiketals, acetals, and ketals are all alike in that regard.2013, Spencer L. Seager, Michael R. Slabaugh, Chemistry for Today: General, Organic, and Biochemistry, page 479
(figuratively) A condition or environment in which something can thrive.
- Silence is the oxygen of shame.
- They hoped to starve the terrorists of the oxygen of publicity.

oxygen meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

oxygen in Hindi

chemical element: जारक jārak, ऑक्सीजन ŏksījan, प्राणवायु prāṇvāyu, आक्सीजन āksījan

oxygen in Tamil

chemical element: உயிர்வளி uyirvaḷi, உயிரியம் uyiriyam, ஆக்சிசன் ākcicaṉ, ஆக்சிஜன் ākcijaṉ

oxygen in Marathi

chemical element: प्राणवायू prāṇvāyū

oxygen in Urdu

chemical element: آکسیجن āksījan, نَسِیم nasīm

More languagesFewer languages

oxygen in Bengali: অম্লজান omlojan, অক্সিজেন okśijen
oxygen in Telugu: ఆమ్లజని āmlajani, ఆక్సిజను āksijanu, ప్రాణవాయువు prāṇavāyuvu
oxygen in Malayalam: അമ്ലജനകം amlajanakaṁ, ഓക്സിജൻ ōksijaṉ, ജീവവായു jīvavāyu, പ്രാണവായു prāṇavāyu
oxygen in Kannada: ಆಮ್ಲಜನಕ āmlajanaka
oxygen in Punjabi: ਆਕਸੀਜਨ ākasījan
oxygen in Gujarati: પ્રાણવાયુ prāṇvāyu
oxygen in Odia: ଅମ୍ଳଜାନ amḷajāna
oxygen in Sanskrit: अम्लकर amlakara
oxygen in Sinhala: අම්ලකර amlakara
oxygen in Assamese: অম্লজান omlozan
oxygen in Pashto: اکسيجن oksiǰán
oxygen in Tagalog: oksiheno
oxygen in Arabic: أُكْسِجِين ʔuksijīn
oxygen in Malay: oksigen, zat pembakar
oxygen in Indonesian: oksigen, zat asam, zat pembakar
oxygen in Persian: اکسیژن oksižen
oxygen in Thai: ออกซิเจน ɔ́k-sí-jeen
oxygen in Vietnamese: ôxy, dưỡng khí
oxygen in Myanmar: အောက်ဆီဂျင် aukhcigyang
Dzongkha: སྲོག་རླུང srog rlung

Examples of oxygen in a sentence

Nutrients and oxygen obtained by the mother are conveyed to the fetus.
High-pressure oxygen acts on the central nervous system and may cause convulsions or death.
By molar fraction, nitric oxide contains equal parts nitrogen and oxygen.

All 40 example sentences with oxygen

Synonyms of oxygen

sourstuff
E948[packaging gas]]>
dioxygen

Forms of oxygen

plural	oxygens

Plural of oxygen: oxygens

Origin of oxygen

Borrowed from French oxygène (originally in the form principe oxygène, a variant of principe oxigine ‘acidifying principle’, suggested by Lavoisier), from Ancient Greek ὀξύς (oxús, “sharp”) + γένος (génos, “birth”), referring to oxygen's supposed role in the formation of acids. By surface analysis, oxy- + -gen.

Phrases with oxygen

48 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about oxygen

What does oxygen mean?: Oxygen means the chemical element (symbol O) with an atomic number of 8 and relative atomic mass of 15.9994. It is a colorless and odorless gas. Sometimes called elemental oxygen to distinguish it from molecular oxygen.
What is oxygen in Hindi?: Oxygen in Hindi is जारक (jārak), ऑक्सीजन (ŏksījan), प्राणवायु (prāṇvāyu). See Oxygen meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is oxygen?: Oxygen is a noun.
How do you pronounce oxygen?: Oxygen is pronounced /ˈɒksɪd͡ʒən/ (UK).
What is the plural of oxygen?: The plural of oxygen is oxygens.

Words near oxygen in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: oxygen (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)-Tesco250-oxygen.wav, en-us-oxygen.ogg.

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