valency

noun/ˈveɪlənsi/

Frequency rank: #19,814 most common English word

Meaning

The combining power of an element or atom, expressed as the number of bonds it can form with other atoms.

Illustration for the English word “valency”

Example sentence

In chemistry class, we learned that oxygen has valency of two, meaning it can form bonds with two other atoms.

Synonyms & related words

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