cation

UK/ˈkætˌaɪ.ən/US/ˈkætˌaɪ.ən/

nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,971 of 15,258Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: cations

A cation is an ion carrying a positive charge. A sodium cation, cation exchange, cations and anions.

It is said as cat-ion in three syllables rather than as the word cat, which catches everybody out. The name means going down, since a cation moves towards the negative electrode in an electric field.

Definitions of cation

1nouncationAn ion carrying a positive charge.C2
“Sodium forms a cation by losing one of its electrons.”

cation is an ion.

Where it comes from

Greek kation means going down, coined in 1834 for Faraday's work on electricity.

Ancient Greek
κᾰτῐόν
English, today
cation

Built from

κᾰ́τειμῐ · Ancient Greek — to go down, come down

Ancient Greek κᾰτῐόν, neuter present participle of κᾰ́τειμῐ (“to go down, come down”), from κᾰτᾰ- + εἶμῐ. coined by William Whewell in 1834 for Michael Faraday, who introduced it later that year. by surface analysis, cat(a)- + ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Chemistry & Elements

Practise this word

cation in the wild

The anion has eight valence electrons, the radical seven and the cation six.
Methyl group
An organic cation transport protein mediates the transport of organic cations across the cell membrane.
Organic cation transport protein
The cation channels of sperm also known as Catsper channels or CatSper, are ion channels that are related to the two-pore channels and distantly related to TRP channels.
Cation channels of sperm
A cation is a positively charged ion with fewer electrons than protons (e.g.
Ion

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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