hydrocyanic acid
- noun
- /ˌhaɪdroʊˈsaɪənɪk ˈæsɪd/
- Specialized
:
ácido cianhídrico
- In the laboratory, we carefully handled hydrocyanic acid due to its highly toxic nature.
Examples
-
"You've just escaped suffocation from hydrocyanic acid.
Fiction book (2001) -
Others might be hydrocyanic acid, hydrofluoric acid, methanol, hydrazine, and sulfur-based solvents.
Blog text (14) -
The pest control company used hydrocyanic acid to fumigate the infested building.
-
Exposure to hydrocyanic acid can lead to serious health complications, including respiratory failure.
Synonyms
1
7.5
A very poisonous liquid or gas that smells of bitter almonds and can kill if breathed in
A very poisonous liquid made from hydrogen cyanide and water used to kill pests
Surface Forms
Morphology
hydrocyanic + acid
The compound is compositionally analyzable as 'hydrocyanic' (hydro- + cyanic) + 'acid', which signals an acid related to cyanide and therefore gives a partial clue that it is a poisonous acid. However, 'hydrocyanic' is a technical, low-frequency chemical term and understanding the precise meaning requires knowledge of 'cyanic/cyanide' and chemical naming, so a typical B1 learner who only knows basic constituent meanings would not reliably infer the exact poisonous/aqueous sense.
Etymology
The noun hydrocyanic acid comes from hydro meaning 'water' and cyanic meaning 'cyan' (a blue chemical), so the name literally points to cyanide in water. Because it is hydrogen cyanide mixed in water, the name tells people it is a very poisonous 'acid'.