Phrase guide

hydrogen cyanide

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A colourless, very poisonous, volatile liquid, HCN, used in the production of dyes, plastics and fumigants; it dissolves in water to form hydrocyanic acid and reacts with bases to form cyanides, and with some organic compounds to form nitriles.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: chemistry, inorganic-chemistry, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a highly poisonous gas or volatile liquid that smells like bitter almonds; becomes a gas at around 90 degree Fahrenheit and is most dangerous when inhaled; the anhydride of hydrocyanic acid; used in manufacturing

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: compound, chemical compound

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

28 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Cantonese: 山埃 (saan1 aai1) — the compound HCN
  • Chinese Mandarin: 氰化氫 /氰化氢 (qínghuàqīng, qīnghuàqīng) — the compound HCN
  • Czech: kyanovodík — the compound HCN
  • Esperanto: hidrogena cianido — the compound HCN
  • Finnish: syaanivety — the compound HCN
  • Finnish: syaanivetyhappo — the compound HCN
  • Finnish: sinihappo — the compound HCN
  • Finnish: formonitriili — the compound HCN
  • French: cyanure d'hydrogène — the compound HCN
  • German: Cyanwasserstoff — the compound HCN
  • Greek: υδροκυάνιο (ydrokyánio) — the compound HCN
  • Hungarian: hidrogén-cianid — the compound HCN
  • Hungarian: ciánhidrogén — the compound HCN
  • Japanese: 青酸 (seisan) — the compound HCN
  • Japanese: シアン化水素 (shianka suiso) — the compound HCN
  • Korean: 시안화수소 (sianhwasuso) — the compound HCN
  • Korean: 청산 (cheongsan) — the compound HCN
  • Korean: 청화수소 (cheonghwasuso) — the compound HCN
  • Norwegian Bokmål: hydrogencyanid — the compound HCN
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: hydrogencyanid — the compound HCN
  • Persian: هیدروژن سیانید (hidrožen siyânid) — the compound HCN
  • Polish: cyjanowodór — the compound HCN
  • Portuguese: cianeto/cianureto de hidrogénio/hidrogênio — the compound HCN
  • Swedish: vätecyanid — the compound HCN
  • Swedish: blåsyra — the compound HCN
  • Swedish: cyanväte — the compound HCN
  • Swedish: cyanvätesyra — the compound HCN
  • Thai: ไฮโดรเจนไซยาไนด์ (hai-droo-jeen-sai-yaa-nai) — the compound HCN