chlorine

English

Chemical element (edit)
Cl Atomic number 17 chlorine
Classification data Period 3 Group 17 Block p-block Class halogen
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Next: argon (Ar) →
English Wikipedia article on Chlorine

Alternative forms

• chlorin (obsolete)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃-

Proto-Hellenic *kʰlōrós

Ancient Greek χλωρός (khlōrós)

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos

Proto-Italic *-īnos

Latin -īnusder.

Old French -inbor.

Middle English -in

English -ine

English chlorine

Coined by British chemist Humphry Davy in 1810 from Ancient Greek χλωρός (khlōrós, “pale green”) + -ine.

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: klôʹrēn, IPA^(key): /ˈklɔɹin/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: klôʹrēn, IPA^(key): /ˈklɔːɹiːn/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈkʰlorɪn/, /ˈkʰlɔrɪn/, /-in/
• Rhymes: -ɔːɹiːn
• Hyphenation: chlo‧rine

Noun

chlorine (usually uncountable, plural chlorines)

2. A toxic, green, gaseous chemical element (symbol Cl) with an atomic number of 17.

   Synonym: (when used as a food additive) E925

   Hypernym: halogen

   • 2024 November 24, Chris Boyette, “Investigators release update on BioLab chemical plant fire probe”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     When TCCA touches a small amount of water and doesn’t dissolve, “it can experience a chemical reaction, generating heat and causing the decomposition of the chemical, which in turn produces toxic chlorine gas and can produce explosive nitrogen trichloride,” a 2023 report by the CSB said.

3. (countable) A single atom of this element.
4. (countable) A chlorine-based bleach or disinfectant.
   • 1982, Richard Saferstein, editor, Forensic Science Handbook‎^[2], volume III, Regents/Prentice Hall, →ISBN, page 154:

     The mechanism involved in the explosive reaction between swimming pool chlorine (calcium hypochlorite) and brake fluid (polyethylene glycol), a possible improvised explosive mixture, has been studied by means of the gaseous products produced.

   • 1989, Carol Taylor, Carol Lillis, Priscilla LeMone, Fundamentals of Nursing: The Art and Science of Nursing Care‎^[3], J. B. Lippincott Company, →ISBN, page 513:

     Chlorines are useful for disinfecting water and for housekeeping disinfectants.

   • 2000, Frances Linzee Gordon, Ethiopia, Eritrea & Djibouti‎^[4], Lonely Planet Publications, →ISBN, page 85:

     Of the chemical solutions, chlorine tablets will kill many pathogens, but not some parasites like giardia and amoebic cysts.

Hypernyms

• element
  • halogen

Derived terms

• acetachlor
• antichlor, antichlore
• antichlorine
• chloral
• chlorane
• chlor-, chloro-
• chlorian
• chloric
• chloride
• chlorinate
• chlorination
• chlorine-35
• chlorine-36
• chlorine-37
• chlorine dioxide
• chlorine fluoride
• chlorineless
• chlorinelike
• chlorine monofluoride
• chlorine oxide
• chlorine pentafluoride
• chlorine trifluoride
• chlorine water
• chloriney
• chloriniferous
• chlorinise, chlorinize
• chlorinity
• chlorinolysis
• chlorinous
• chlorite
• chloroid
• chlorous
• chloruret
• Clorox
• dichlorine
• nonchlorine
• organochlorine
• radiochlorine

Related terms

• chlorate
• chlorurated

Translations

chemical element

• Afrikaans: chloor (af)
• Albanian: klor (sq) m
• Arabic: كُلُور m (kulūr)
• Armenian: քլոր (hy) (kʻlor)
• Asturian: cloru (ast) m
• Azerbaijani:

  Arabic: قلور (xulōr), قُلوٓر (xulōr)

  Latin: xlor

• Basque: kloroa
• Belarusian: хлор m (xlor)
• Bengali: ক্লোরিন (bn) (klōrin)
• Breton: klor (br) m
• Bulgarian: хлор (bg) m (hlor)
• Burmese: ကလိုရင်း (ka.luirang:)
• Catalan: clor (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 氯 (luk⁶)

  Hakka: 氯 (liu̍k)

  Hokkien: 鹽素 / 盐素 (iâm-sò͘), 氯 (lio̍k, lo̍k)

  Mandarin: 氯 (zh) (lǜ)

• Cornish: klorin m
• Czech: chlór (cs) m
• Danish: klor (da) ?
• Dutch: chloor (nl) m
• Esperanto: kloro (eo)
• Estonian: kloor (et)
• Faroese: klor n
• Finnish: kloori (fi)
• French: chlore (fr) m
• Frisian:

  West Frisian: gloor ?

• Friulian: clôr ?
• Galician: cloro (gl) m
• Georgian: ქლორი (klori)
• German: Chlor (de) n
• Greek: χλώριο (el) n (chlório)
• Hebrew: כְּלוֹר (he) m (klór)
• Hindi: नीरजी ? (nīrjī), क्लोरीन ? (klorīn)
• Hungarian: klór (hu)
• Icelandic: klór (is) m
• Indonesian: klorin (id)
• Interlingua: chloro
• Irish: clóirín (ga) m
• Italian: cloro (it) m
• Japanese: 塩素 (ja) (えんそ, enso)
• Kashubian: chlor
• Kazakh: хлор (kk) (xlor)
• Khmer: ក្លរ (klɑɑ), ក្លរីន (klɑriin)
• Korean: 염소(鹽素) (ko) (yeomso)
• Kyrgyz: хлор (ky) (hlor)
• Lao: ຄລໍຣິນ (khlǭ rin)
• Latvian: hlors (lv) m
• Lingala: koloki class 9a/10a
• Lithuanian: chloras (lt) ?
• Luxembourgish: Chlor ?
• Macedonian: хлор m (hlor)
• Malay: klorin (ms)
• Malayalam: ക്ലോറിൻ (klōṟiṉ)
• Maltese: kloru m
• Manx: cloreen m
• Māori: haumāota
• Melanau:

  Central Melanau: klorin

• Mongolian: хлор (mn) (xlor)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: klor (no) n

  Nynorsk: klor (nn) n

• Occitan: clòr (oc) m
• Persian: کلر (fa) (kolor)
• Polish: chlor (pl) m
• Portuguese: cloro (pt) m
• Romanian: clor (ro) n
• Russian: хлор (ru) m (xlor)
• Sanskrit: नीरजी ? (nīrajī)
• Scottish Gaelic: clòirin m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хло̑р m, кло̑р ?

  Latin: hlȏr m, klȏr (sh) ?

• Sinhalese: ක්ලෝරීන් (klōrīn)
• Slovak: chlór (sk) m inan
• Slovene: klor (sl) ?
• Spanish: cloro (es) m
• Swahili: klorini (sw)
• Swedish: klor (sv) n
• Tagalog: kloro
• Tajik: хлор (xlor)
• Tamil: குளோரின் (ta) (kuḷōriṉ)
• Telugu: హరినము (harinamu)
• Thai: คลอรีน (th) (klɔɔ-riin)
• Turkish: klor (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: قلور (qlōr)

• Turkmen: hlor
• Ukrainian: хлор m (xlor)
• Urdu: کلورین (klorīn)
• Uyghur: خلور (ug) (xlor)
• Uzbek: xlor (uz)

  Cyrillic: хлор (uz) (xlor)

• Vietnamese: clo
• Volapük: klorin (vo)
• Welsh: clorin (cy) m

See also

• carnallite
• halite
• sylvite

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English chlorine.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌxloːˈri.nə/
• Hyphenation: chlo‧ri‧ne
• Rhymes: -inə

Noun

chlorine f (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. (obsolete) chlorine

   Synonyms: chloor, zoutstof