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, zuurstof oxygen in its (simplest) bound form is called oxide oxide, waterstof hydrogen in its (simplest) bound form is called hydride hydride. 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: water water (H20) can be called both waterstofoxide hydrogen oxide and (less common) zuurstofhydride oxygen hydride. To denote structural variants, prefixes such as iso- are used as well: both isopropylalcohol isopropyl alcohol and propanol propanol 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-aminophenol paracetamol.

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

suffix	meaning/use	examples
-aan	to denote saturated carbohydrates	butaan butane, C4H10
-aat	to denote salts of certain acids	natriumsulfaat sodium sulfate, Na2SO4
-ase	to denote enzymes	maltase an enzyme that breaks down the disaccharide maltose
-een	to denote unsaturated carbohydrates	benzeen benzene, C6H6
-ide	to denote simple ions	fluoride fluoride
-iet	to denote salts of certain acids	natriumsulfiet sodium sulfite, Na2SO3
-ine	to denote certain psycho-active compounds	heroïne heroin
-ium	to denote chemical elements	kalium potassium
-ol	to denote alcohol-like substances	isopropanol 2-methylpropan-1-ol, (CH3)2CHCH2OH

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