noun
- Plural of prussiate; salts or compounds formed by the reaction of prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide) with metals or bases, historically used in dyes and pigments.
Usage: archaic; chemistry; historical term largely replaced by modern nomenclature (e.g., ferrocyanides)
Examples
- Eighteenth-century chemists studied prussiates as important industrial compounds.
- Prussian blue, a famous pigment, is derived from iron prussiates.
- The laboratory contained several bottles of different metal prussiates.
- Historically, prussiates were used extensively in the textile and printing industries.