Binary Covalent Nomenclature

Rules of Binary Covalent Nomenclature

  • The naming system is for compounds composed of two nonmetallic elements.
  • The first element keeps its name
  • The first element gets a prefix if it has a subscript in the formula
  • The second element gets the –ide suffix (ending)
  • The second element ALWAYS gets a prefix




prefixnumber indicated
mono-1
di-2
tri-3
tetra-4
penta-5
hexa-6
hepta-7
octa-8
nona-9
deca-10