What does cupric mean?
Cupric is a technical adjective used in chemistry to describe compounds containing copper in its divalent state, meaning each copper atom carries a charge of +2. It serves to distinguish these compounds from those containing monovalent copper, which are termed cuprous. Classic examples include cupric sulfate (CuSO₄), a vivid blue compound employed as a fungicide, and cupric oxide (CuO), a black solid used in ceramics and various industrial processes. The word derives from the Latin name for copper, cuprum, taken from the island of Cyprus, an ancient source of the metal. Because modern IUPAC nomenclature favours designations such as 'copper(II)', the term appears most often today in older textbooks, industrial contexts, and established compound names that have persisted through convention. For general readers, encountering 'cupric' usually signals a chemistry text or product label, where the striking blue-green colours of divalent copper salts are frequently on display.
adjectiveOf or containing copper, especially in its divalent (Cu²⁺) state; denoting copper compounds in which the copper atom has a valence of two.
- Relating to or containing bivalent copper (Cu²⁺) in chemical compounds — the dominant and essentially only sense, used chiefly in chemistry.
"The solution turned a vivid blue as the cupric sulfate dissolved."
"Cupric sulfate is widely used as a fungicide and algicide in agriculture."
"In the lab, a cupric salt gave the flame test a characteristic blue-green colour."
That brilliant blue of copper(II) sulfate crystals? That's cupric copper showing off — the same ion that makes old bronze statues turn green.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cupric
Cupric derives from the New Latin cuprum, the Latin name for copper, itself adapted from the Greek Kypros (Cyprus), the Mediterranean island famed as an early source of the metal. The suffix -ic was adopted in the systematic chemical nomenclature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to mark the higher of two oxidation states of an element, with -ous marking the lower. Its closest relative is cuprous, the companion term for monovalent copper, and both belong to a family of copper-related words including cuprite, the mineral name for copper oxide.
How cupric is actually used
A technical term used almost exclusively in chemistry and related sciences. In naming conventions it distinguishes divalent copper compounds from monovalent ('cuprous') ones, though modern IUPAC nomenclature prefers stock notation such as 'copper(II)'. Not used colloquially.
Easily confused with cupric
Cuprous refers to copper in its monovalent (+1) state, while cupric refers to copper in its divalent (+2) state.