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Glite Dictionary
ammonium salt

ammonium salt

4.8
A salt that forms when ammonia reacts with an acid and has an NH4+ part
  • noun
  • /əˈmɒn.i.əm sɔlt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sal de amonio
  • The degradation of soil quality caused by sodium chloride can be avoided by using an ammonium salt fertilizer (Hull 1986).

Examples

  • For better plant growth, many farmers prefer using ammonium salt fertilizers.

  • The laboratory used an ammonium salt in the synthesis of various compounds.

  • To improve soil fertility, the gardener added ammonium salt to the soil.

Surface Forms

ammonium salt singular
ammonium salts plural

Morphology

ammonium + salt

The compound meaning ('a salt containing the ammonium NH4+ ion') is directly and compositionally derived from 'ammonium' (the NH4+ ion) + 'salt' (an ionic compound), so a learner who knows both constituent meanings can infer the MWE meaning. This noun–noun chemical naming pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, making the expression transparent to learners familiar with the parts.

Etymology

Ammonium salt One popular story says the name comes from a very old mineral called 'sal ammoniac', which people found near the temple of the Egyptian god Ammon. Chemists later used ammonium for the chemical part and salt for the kind of compound made when an acid meets a base, so ammonium salt now means a salt that contains the 'ammonium' part.