The purpose of this study is to help students in chemistry and in any other field related to chemistry differentiate, better understand and use more properly the terms beginning with hydr(o)- , terms that can be misleading because of their different referent (‘hydrogen’, ‘water’, and ‘hydrargyrum’). In our attempt, we have used the lexicological approach. We have found out that there are about 84% combined words with hydr(o)- (‘hydrogen’) and hydroxy(l)- . There were no limitations to this study. The practical implication of the study is that all these combined words make up an exhaustive inventory which, if properly acquired by the students, can help them decipher more easily the meaning of any specialised text in English.

loanword, combined form, derivative; back-formation; English of chemistry

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