Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun chemistry Any
element from group 15 of theperiodic table ;nitrogen ,phosphorus ,arsenic ,antimony andbismuth .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Ancient Greek πνίγειν (pnigein, "to choke, to stifle") (a property of nitrogen) + -gen, with -t- in some forms, perhaps by analogy with pnictide.
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Examples
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The terms pnictogen and chalcogen are dear to my heart, yet they are just pretentious ways of saying nitrogen family and oxygen family.
Annoying and pretentious terms. Ann Althouse 2008
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