Definition of "valency" []

• Variant of valence. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Edward Frankland (1825–99) announced his theory of valency, that is, each atom has a certain “valency, ” or capacity for combining with a definite number of other atoms."
• "So not only did the meaning change, but also the "valency" in the sense of which verbal arguments go where."
• "The meaning attached to the word "valency," is simply one of interchangeability, just as we say a penny is worth two halfpennies or four farthings."