carbon dioxide

English

Alternative forms

• carbon dioxid, carbondioxid

Pronunciation

• enPR: kär′bən dī-ŏk′sīd
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑː.bən daɪˈɒk.saɪd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑɹ.bən daɪˈɑk.saɪd/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑɹ.bən daɪˈɒk.saɪd/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌkɐː.bən dɑɪˈɒk.sɑɪd/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˌkaː.bən daɪˈɒk.saɪd/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˌkaɹ.bən daɪˈɔk.saɪd/
• (India) IPA^(key): /ˌkaːʳ.bon ɖajˈɒk.sajɖ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: car‧bon di‧ox‧ide

Noun

carbon dioxide (uncountable)

2. (inorganic chemistry) The normal oxide of carbon, CO₂; a colorless, odorless gas formed during respiration and combustion and consumed by plants during photosynthesis.

   Synonyms: carbonic acid gas, CO₂, (acidity regulator) E290

   Hypernym: greenhouse gas

   Coordinate term: carbon monoxide

   • 2008 December 9, Jeff Jacoby, “Skepticism on climate change”, in The International Herald Tribune‎^[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 29 March 2022:

     There were dozens of presentations in 2008, including: […] "The Overstated Role of Carbon Dioxide on Climate Change."

   • 2013 September–October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist‎^[2], archived from the original on 3 September 2013:

     Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.

   • 2024 April 9, Rebecca Lindsey, “Climate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide”, in Dlugokencky, Ed, editor, Climate.gov‎^[3], USA.gov, archived from the original on 7 April 2025:

     Each year, human activities release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than natural processes can remove, causing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to increase.

Usage notes

• The O in CO₂ must always be capitalized, otherwise the formula will be interpreted as a diatomic molecule of cobalt; translingual: compare CO to Co.

Derived terms

• carbon dioxide-equivalent
• carbon dioxide snow

Translations

CO₂

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: ثَانِي أُكْسِيد الْكَرْبُون m (ṯānī ʔuksīd al-karbūn)
• Armenian: ածխաթթու գազ (hy) (acxatʻtʻu gaz), ածխածնի երկօքսիդ (hy) (acxacni erkōkʻsid)
• Basque: karbono dioxido, anhidrido karboniko
• Bengali: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: въглеро́ден диокси́д m (vǎgleróden dioksíd), въглеро́ден двуо́кис m (vǎgleróden dvuókis)
• Catalan: diòxid de carboni m, biòxid de carboni, anhídrid carbònic
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 二氧化碳 (ji⁶ joeng⁵ faa³ taan³)

  Hokkien: 二酸化炭素 (jī-sng-hoà thoàⁿ-sò͘), 二氧化碳 (zh-min-nan) (jī-iông-hòa-thòaⁿ)

  Mandarin: 二氧化碳 (zh) (èryǎnghuàtàn)

• Czech: oxid uhličitý (cs) m
• Danish: kuldioxid
• Dutch: kooldioxide (nl)
• East Frisian Low Saxon: köölenstofdiioksiid n
• Esperanto: karbona dioksido
• Estonian: süsinikdioksiid, süsihappegaas
• Farefare: mi'igiid-yi bugsãaŋ-kugre
• Faroese: koltvísúrni n
• Finnish: hiilidioksidi (fi)
• French: anhydride carbonique (fr) m, dioxyde de carbone (fr) m, gaz carbonique (fr) m (as a gas)
• Galician: dióxido de carbono (gl) m
• Georgian: ნახშირორჟანგი (naxširoržangi)
• German: Kohlenstoffdioxid (de) n, Kohlendioxyd (de) n (colloquial, non-scientific spelling), Kohlendioxid (de) n
• Greek: διοξείδιο του άνθρακα (el) (dioxeídio tou ánthraka)
• Hebrew: פַּחְמָן דּוּ חַמְצָנִי (he) m (paḥmán du ḥamtzaní), דּוּ תַּחְמֹצֶת הַפַּחְמָן (he) m (du taḥmótzet hapaḥmán)
• Hindi: प्रांगार द्विजारेय (prāṅgār dvijārey), अंगाराम्लवायु (aṅgārāmlavāyu)
• Hungarian: szén-dioxid (hu)
• Icelandic: koltvísýringur (is) m
• Indonesian: karbon dioksida (id)
• Ingrian: hiilihappo
• Irish: dé-ocsaíd charbóin f
• Italian: anidride carbonica (it) f, diossido di carbonio m
• Japanese: 二酸化炭素 (ja) (にさんかたんそ, nisanka-tanso)
• Kazakh: көмір қышқыл газ (kömır qyşqyl gaz)
• Khmer: កាបូន​ឌីអុកស៊ីត (kaaboun-diiʼoksiit)
• Korean: 이산화탄소(二酸化炭素) (ko) (isanhwatanso)
• Lao: ຄາບອນໄດອອກໄຊ (khā bǭn aik sai)
• Latin: dioxydum carbonicum n
• Latvian: ogļskābā gāze, oglekļa dioksīds
• Lithuanian: anglies dioksidas m
• Macedonian: јаглероден диоксид (jagleroden dioksid)
• Malay: karbon dioksida (ms)
• Malayalam: ഇംഗാലാമ്ലം (ml) (iṅgālāmlaṁ)
• Manx: daa-ocseed charboan m
• Maori: hauhā, waro hāora-rua
• Mongolian: нүүрстөрөгчийн давхар исэл (nüürstörögčiin davxar isel)
• North Frisian: Köölendioksüüd m or f (Sylt)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: karbondioksid n

  Nynorsk: karbondioksid n

• Pannonian Rusyn: угльов диоксид m inan (uhlʹov dioksid), угльо-диоксид m inan (uhlʹo-dioksid)
• Persian: کربن دی‌اکسید (karbon di-oksid)
• Polish: dwutlenek węgla (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: dióxido de carbono, gás carbônico m
• Romanian: bioxid de carbon m, dioxid de carbon m, anhidridă carbonică (ro) f
• Russian: двуо́кись углеро́да (ru) f (dvuókisʹ ugleróda), углеки́слый газ (ru) m (uglekíslyj gaz), диокси́д углеро́да (ru) m (dioksíd ugleróda)
• Sanskrit: अङ्गाराम्लवायु (aṅgārāmlavāyu)
• Scottish Gaelic: carbon dà-ogsaid m, gualan dà-ogsaid m
• Serbo-Croatian: ugljik dioksida
• Sindhi: ڏوناڪسِيوَر ڪاربان (sd) f (ḏonāksīvar kārbā̃)
• Slovak: oxid uhličitý m
• Slovene: ogljikov dioksid m
• Spanish: bióxido de carbono, anhídrido carbónico, dióxido de carbono, anhidrido carbónico m
• Swahili: kaboni dioksidi
• Swedish: koldioxid (sv)
• Tagalog: karbon daluksad
• Tamil: கரியமில வாயு (kariyamila vāyu), கரியமில வளி (kariyamila vaḷi)
• Telugu: బొగ్గుపులుసు వాయువు (boggupulusu vāyuvu)
• Thai: คาร์บอนไดออกไซด์ (th) (kāa-bɔ̂n dāi-ɔ́k-sāai)
• Turkish: karbondioksit (tr)
• Ukrainian: діокси́д вуглецю́ m (dioksýd vuhlecjú), вуглеки́слий газ m (vuhlekýslyj haz)
• Vietnamese: cacbon đioxit (vi), cacbonic
• Welsh: carbon deuocsid (cy) m
• Yiddish: קוילנשטאָף־צווייאָקסיד (koylnshtof-tsveyoksid)

See also

• carbon offset
• carbonate
• dry ice