# hydrogen

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈhaɪdɹəd͡ʒ(ə)n/ · frequency rank #7,349

## Definitions
1. The lightest chemical element (symbol H), with an atomic number of 1 and atomic weight of 1.008.
2. The lightest chemical element (symbol H), with an atomic number of 1 and atomic weight of 1.008.
3. Molecular hydrogen (sense 1; symbol H₂), a colourless, odourless and flammable gas at room temperature.
4. Molecular hydrogen (sense 1; symbol H₂), a colourless, odourless and flammable gas at room temperature.
5. Synonym of protium (“the lightest and most common isotope of hydrogen (sense 1; symbol H, ¹H, or 11H), as contrasted with deuterium and tritium”).

## Etymology
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).

## Common misspellings (13)
`hdyrogen`, `hhydrogen`, `hyddrogen`, `hydorgen`, `hydrgoen`, `hydroegn`, `hydrogenn`, `hydroggen`, `hydrogne`, `hydrrogen`, `hyrdogen`, `hyydrogen`, `yhdrogen`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/hydrogen