TSUMUGU · B2 (est.) · 字
氧
氧 ＝ 气 ＋ 羊
ㄧㄤˇ · yǎng
noun — oxygen
字源 FORM — what the parts do
气義gas, air — the radical for the airy elements
Tyáng → yǎng — tone falls
Nineteenth-century chemistry needed a name for the gas, so it took the gas radical 气 and tucked a sound under it: 羊 yáng, the sheep, read here as yǎng. No sheep in it — just air with a borrowed voice. The same 气 frame houses 氫 (hydrogen) and 氮 (nitrogen).
意 · Meanings
(引申)氧、氧氣— oxygen常用
→氧化— to oxidize — what oxygen does to metal
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension
關 · Related
養＝ ＋ 食yǎngthe lookalike — 養 feeds you under 食 (food); 氧 is the same wrapped in gas 氫qīngthe gas sibling — same frame, hydrogen instead of oxygen