- azo-
- word-forming element denoting the presence of nitrogen, 1879, from comb. form of azote, the old term for "nitrogen" (from Greek a- "not, without" (see a- (3)) + zoion "a living being;" see zoo); coined in French by Lavoisier & de Morveau because living things cannot survive in the gas.
- azoic (adj.)
- 1854, with -ic + Greek azoos, from a- "not, without" (see a- (3)) + zoon "animal" (see zoo).
- azotemia (n.)
- 1900, also azotaemia, from azot- (see azo-) + Greek haima "blood" (see -emia).
- Aztec
- 1787, from Spanish Azteca, from Nahuatl aztecatl (plural aztecah), meaning "coming from Aztlan," name of their legendary place of origin, usually said to lie somewhere in what is now southwestern U.S.
- azure (n.)
- early 14c., from Old French azur, asur, a color name, from a false separation of Arabic (al)-lazaward "lapis lazuli," as though the -l- were the French article l'. The Arabic name is from Persian lajward, from Lajward, a place in Turkestan, mentioned by Marco Polo, where the stone was collected.