What does hydrogen mean?
Word: Hydrogen
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Hydrogen means a colourless gas, the lightest element of all, that burns easily and joins with oxygen to make water.
Word origin: Named in French in the 1780s from Greek words meaning 'water-former'.
How do you spell hydrogen?
Syllables: hy - dro - gen
Tricky part: It starts with hy, not hi, and the j sound is written g. Students write hidrogen or hydrojen.
Watch out for: hidrogen, hydrojen, hydrogin
Memory tip: Hydrogen is the water-maker: burn it and water forms. Words built on the Greek for water start with hy, never hi.
Hydrogen in a sentence
Example 1: Water is made of hydrogen and oxygen.
Example 2: Engineers are testing trains that run on hydrogen instead of diesel.
Example 3: In the lab, we collected hydrogen gas in an upside-down test tube.
Fun Fact
Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. The Sun shines by joining hydrogen atoms together to make helium.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Only one of these words is spelt correctly. Choose its meaning:
1. beeker 2. hydrogen 3. thermometor 4. magnifyer
a) a glass cup with a lip, used in a laboratory
b) the first element in the periodic table
c) a lens that makes things look bigger
d) an instrument that measures temperature
Show answer
b) the first element in the periodic table. Beeker has ee where the word has ea, thermometor has an o where its last vowel should be e, and magnifyer keeps a y that should change to i.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Our science teacher showed that ngedoryh gas burns with a squeaky pop near a lit splint.
a) hydrogen
b) nitrogen
c) hydrant
d) halogen
Show answer
a) hydrogen. A gas that gives a squeaky pop near a lit splint is hydrogen; halogen and hydrant both need an a, and nitrogen an i and a t.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct letters to form a word:
hy_r_gen
a) d, o
b) d, a
c) t, o
d) d, e
Show answer
a) d, o. Hydro, as in hydroelectric, gives the start: a d after the y and an o after the r.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
hydrogene
a) n
b) g
c) e
d) o
Show answer
c) e. The French form ends in an e, but the English word stops at the n.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which chemical symbol stands for hydrogen?
a) H
b) Hd
c) He
d) Hy
Show answer
a) H
2. Why were early airships filled with hydrogen?
a) because it smells pleasant
b) because it is easy to colour
c) because it is lighter than air
d) because it keeps food fresh
Show answer
c) because it is lighter than air
