valency
/ˈveɪ.lən.si/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.83 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Alternative form of valence (“the combining capacity of an atom, functional group, or radical determined by the number of atoms of hydrogen with which it will unite, or the number of electrons that it will gain, lose, or share when it combines with other atoms, etc.”).
British usage; Countable
noun
Alternative form of valence (“the combining capacity of an atom, functional group, or radical determined by the number of atoms of hydrogen with which it will unite, or the number of electrons that it will gain, lose, or share when it combines with other atoms, etc.”).
British usage; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "vaccine valency"
- "Some etymons appear to have greater valency than others when it comes to the formation of portmanteau words."
- "The rationale behind GSK's buy is that bigger is better, in terms of vaccine valency. It has been shown that including more disease-causing serotypes decreases the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease. To this end, Pfizer and Merck last year got the nod for 20-valent and 15-valent vaccines respectively. Affinivax's AFX3772, meanwhile, is a 24-valent jab."
Etymology
From Late Latin valentia and Latin valentia (“bodily strength; health; vigour”) + English -y (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a condition, quality, or state). Valentia is derived from valēns (“healthy, strong, vigorous”) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns); while valēns is the present active participle of valeō (“to be healthy, sound, or well; to be strong; to have influence or power, etc.”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“to rule; powerful, strong”). Sense 1 (“combining capacity of an atom”) and sense 3 (“number of arguments a verb can have”) are possibly from valence + -y.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈveɪ.lən.si/
- British English: /ˈveɪ.lən.si/
Usage
- British usage
- Countable
- Uncountable