Chemistry has an extensive vocabulary and a significant amount of jargon, much of it derived directly or indirectly from Latin or Ancient Greek. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is responsible for the international standardization of nomenclature in chemistry (Anstein 2006). From a linguistic perspective, the terminology of chemical compounds can be seen as using both derivation and compounding. For example, zuurstofoxygen in its (simplest) bound form is called oxideoxide, waterstofhydrogen in its (simplest) bound form is called hydridehydride. Both in oxide[ɔk.ˈsi.də] and hydride[hi.ˈdri.də] the suffix -ide can be recognized. A simple chemical compound, then, is described by means of a morphological compound: waterwater (H20) can be called both waterstofoxidehydrogen oxide and (less common) zuurstofhydrideoxygen hydride. To denote structural variants, prefixes such as iso- are used as well: both isopropylalcoholisopropyl alcohol and propanolpropanol have the molecular formula C3H7OH, but the structure of the molecules is different.

A domain-specific property of chemical compounds is that the terms can be adorned with diacritics for disambiguation purposes. Cf., e.g., ijzer(III)chloride[εɪ.zər.ˈdri.χlɔ.ri.də]FeCl3, iron(III)chloride, ferric chloride, ijzer(II)chloride[εɪ.zər.ˈtwe.χlɔ.ri.də]FeCl2, iron(II)chloride, ferrous chloride and N-acetyl-p-aminophenolparacetamol.

The table below (after De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 274) lists some common chemical suffixes:

suffix	meaning/use	examples
-aan	to denote saturated carbohydrates	butaanbutane, C4H10
-aat	to denote salts of certain acids	natriumsulfaatsodium sulfate, Na2SO4
-ase	to denote enzymes	maltasean enzyme that breaks down the disaccharide maltose
-een	to denote unsaturated carbohydrates	benzeenbenzene, C6H6
-ide	to denote simple ions	fluoridefluoride
-iet	to denote salts of certain acids	natriumsulfietsodium sulfite, Na2SO3
-ine	to denote certain psycho-active compounds	heroïneheroin
-ium	to denote chemical elements	kaliumpotassium
-ol	to denote alcohol-like substances	isopropanol2-methylpropan-1-ol, (CH3)2CHCH2OH

Most suffixes make neuter nouns, selecting the singular definite article het.