valency

Meaning

1. Alternative form of valence (“the combining capacity of an atom, functional group, or radical determined by the number of atoms of hydrogen with which it will unite, or the number of electrons that it will gain, lose, or share when it combines with other atoms, etc.”)
2. Alternative form of valence (“the combining capacity of an atom, functional group, or radical determined by the number of atoms of hydrogen with which it will unite, or the number of electrons that it will gain, lose, or share when it combines with other atoms, etc.”)
3. The number of edges connected to a vertex in a graph.
4. Alternative form of valence (“the number of arguments that a verb can have, including its subject, ranging from zero to three or, less commonly, four”)
5. Importance, significance.

Synonyms

valence

atomicity

importance

significance

valences

vigour

quantivalence

quantivalency

verb valency

chemical valence

adicity

valency number

basicity

Hyphenated as

val‧ency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈveɪlənsi/

Etymology

From Late Latin valentia and Latin valentia (“bodily strength; health; vigour”) + English -y (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting a condition, quality, or state). Valentia is derived from valēns (“healthy, strong, vigorous”) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns); while valēns is the present active participle of valeō (“to be healthy, sound, or well; to be strong; to have influence or power, etc.”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂welh₁- (“to rule; powerful, strong”).
Sense 1 (“combining capacity of an atom”) and sense 3 (“number of arguments a verb can have”) are possibly from valence + -y.