Definition of "protoxide" [pro•tox•ide]

• The oxide of a particular element (that has multiple oxides) having the smallest proportion of oxygen (noun)

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• "I believe, however, that there is such an oxide; that it is often present in variable proportions in what is commonly called protoxide, throwing uncertainty upon the results of its analysis, and causing the electrolytic decomposition above described [A]."
• "But in working with this oxide and the chloride, I observed facts which lead me to doubt whether the compounds usually called the protoxide and the protochloride do not often contain other compounds, consisting of single proportions, which are the true proto compounds, and which, in the case of the oxide, might give rise to the decomposition above described."
• "The aurates were easily produced, but it was impossible to obtain the combination of alkalis and the protoxide of gold."