ˈäksə̇jə̇n, -sēj- noun
( -s )
Etymology: French oxygène, from oxy- oxy- (I) + -gène -gen
: a nonmetallic chiefly bivalent element that is normally a colorless odorless tasteless nonflammable diatomic gas slightly soluble in water, that is the most abundant of the elements on earth occurring uncombined in air to the extent of about 21 percent by volume and combined in water, in most common rocks and minerals (as oxides, silicates, carbonates), and in a great variety of organic compounds (as alcohols, acid, fats, carbohydrates, proteins), that has three naturally occurring nonradioactive isotopes of masses 16, 17, and 18 of relative abundance 2494:1:5, that is obtained industrially from liquid air by distilling off the nitrogen or from water by electrolysis or in the laboratory by decomposition by heat of various, oxides, peroxides, or salts (as chlorates or permanganates), that combines with all other elements except those of the group of inert gases, and that is used chiefly in oxyacetylene and oxyhydrogen flames in welding and cutting metals, in making steel and in other metallurgical processes, in making glass, in the chemical industry (as in producing synthesis gas), in medicine, aviation, and diving to aid respiration, and usually in the form of air in many combustion and oxidation processes — symbol O ; see liquid oxygen , ozone ; element table