Skip to main content
ferricyanide

ferricyanide

1 9.9
A chemical salt containing iron and cyanide used as an oxidizer
  • noun
  • /ˌfɛrɪˈsaɪəˌnaɪd/
  • Specialized
: ferricianuro
  • The laboratory utilized ferricyanide to assess the presence of certain metal ions in the samples.

Examples

  • Ferricyanide is often used in photography for creating deep blue hues in ferricyanide prints.

  • Gene Smith was a master of guiding the viewer to the important elements in a complicated, often messy news picture, giving a slight burn through a low contrast filter on variable contrast paper to the elements that were less important and raising the contrast and brightness of the important with a ferricyanide bleach.

    Blog text (6)
  • Ferricyanide by Nemo Warr, FPSA B/W spot, local, overall reduction with ferricyanide. TDCIS No. 3.

    Academic text (1993)
  • Companion capsule will be Ferricyanide—a B/W printing technique for spot removal, local and overall reduction.

    Academic text (2001)
  • By adding ferricyanide to the solution, the chemist observed a notable color change indicating a reaction.

Surface Forms

ferricyanide singular
ferricyanides plural

Morphology

ferricyanide = ferric + cyanide (semi-transparent) = ferri + cyanide

The word is compositionally ferri- (iron) + cyanide, which describes the chemical composition, but understanding the exact meaning (including oxidation state and ionic form) requires specialist chemistry knowledge.

Etymology

The word ferricyanide comes from two parts: ferri- from Latin ferrum meaning 'iron' and cyanide from Greek kyanos meaning 'dark blue', like the color 'cyan'. So ferricyanide names an 'iron' chemical joined to a cyanide part, which helps you remember it is an iron-containing compound often used in lab tests that show blue color changes.