What does "fluorine" mean?

The chemical element (symbol F) with an atomic number of 9. It is the lightest of the halogens, a pale yellow-green, highly reactive gas that attacks all metals.

What is a synonym for "fluorine"?

Common synonyms include: ammonia, atomic number 9, carbon dioxide, f, gas, nitrogen.

How do you pronounce "fluorine"?

Pronounced //ˈflʊ(ə)ɹˌin/.

Fluorine

//ˈflʊ(ə)ɹˌin/ noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
The chemical element (symbol F) with an atomic number of 9. It is the lightest of the halogens, a pale yellow-green, highly reactive gas that attacks all metals. uncountable
2
a nonmetallic univalent element belonging to the halogens; usually a yellow irritating toxic flammable gas; a powerful oxidizing agent; recovered from fluorite or cryolite or fluorapatite wordnet
3
A single atom of this element. countable
"an octahedron of fluorines"

Synonyms

All synonyms

ammonia atomic number 9 carbon dioxide f gas nitrogen

Example

More examples

"Christopher Columbus once decided to burn absolutely everything in an entire village after one of the natives stole his parrot. He was disappointed that he couldn't burn their water. So he invented fluorine."

Etymology

From Latin fluor (“flow”) + -ine. Coined by British chemist Humphry Davy in 1813.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.