xenon Hear it!

xenon definition

xe·non (zē′nän′, zen′än′)

noun

a heavy, colorless, gaseous chemical element, one of the noble gases, present in the air in minute quantities and found to react with fluorine and other reactive compounds and to form salts and acids in solution: used in bubble chambers, electric luminescent tubes, lasers, vacuum tubes, etc.: symbol, Xe; at. no., 54

Etymology: ModL < Gr, neut. of xenos, foreign, a stranger: so named (1898) by Sir William Ramsay & M. W. Travers (see krypton), as the hitherto unknown inert gas

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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