xenon
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Meaning
A heavy, colorless, odorless, chemically inactive gaseous element that is found in the earth's atmosphere in trace amounts and is used in specialized electric lamps.
Usage
Xenon is used in high-intensity discharge lamps for car headlights and movie projectors.
The patient underwent a xenon CT scan to measure cerebral blood flow.
Unlike neon or argon, xenon can form compounds with other elements under certain conditions.
Etymology
The element xenon was discovered in 1898 by British chemists Sir William Ramsay and Morris Travers. They named it from the Greek word 'xenos', meaning 'stranger' or 'foreign', because it was a new, rare, and unfamiliar gas found as a minor component in liquid air. This naming follows a tradition in chemistry where newly discovered noble gases were given names reflecting their elusive or peculiar nature. The literal meaning of 'stranger' thus evolved into the modern, specific scientific term for the chemical element with atomic number 54.
Analysis
The entire word 'xenon' functions as a single, unsegmentable morpheme in English. It is a borrowing from the Greek adjective 'xenon', the neuter form of 'xenos' meaning 'strange, foreign, guest'.