ionic

UK/aɪˈɒnɪk/US/aɪˈɒnɪk/

adjectiveC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,276 of 15,258mostly written

Ionic means bonded by the attraction of opposite charges. An ionic bond, ionic compounds, ionic solids.

One atom gives an electron away and the other takes it, and the two then hold together by charge — which is why ionic compounds like salt form crystals, melt at high temperatures and conduct when dissolved. Note the Ionic order in architecture, a different word.

Definitions of ionic

1adjectiveionicBonded by the attraction of opposite charges.C1
“Sodium and chlorine form an ionic bond, giving us ordinary table salt.”

ionic is a kind of chemical bond.

Where it comes from

Ancient Greek
εἶμι
English
ion
English, today
ionic

Built from

εἶμι · Ancient Greek — I go

From ion + -ic. ion comes from Ancient Greek εἶμι. From the ending of anion and cation, which in turn is from Ancient Greek ἰόν (“going”), neuter present participle of εἶμι (“I go”). coined by William Whewell in 1834 for Michael Faraday, who introduced it later that year.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Chemistry & Elements

Practise this word

ionic in the wild

In simpler words, an ionic bond results from the transfer of electrons from a metal to a non-metal to obtain a full valence shell for both atoms.
Ionic bonding
Bonds with partially ionic and partially covalent characters are called polar covalent bonds.
Ionic bonding
Historically, salt is a subtype of ionic compound.
Salt (chemistry)
As the definition for acid and base expands, salt becomes synonymous with ionic compound.
Salt (chemistry)
An ionic liquid (IL) is a salt in the liquid state at ambient conditions.
Ionic liquid

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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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