means A colorless, odorless gas that makes up about 78% of Earth's atmosphere and is essential to all living things as a building block of proteins and DNA.

from From the French nitrogène, coined in the late 18th century from the Greek nitron (a kind of mineral salt, the root behind 'niter,' i.e. saltpetre) plus the suffix -gen, 'producing' — so literally 'niter-maker,' because the element was identified as a component of nitric acid and saltpetre. Its earlier name, 'azote,' came from Greek meaning 'without life' (a-zoe), since unlike oxygen it couldn't sustain a flame or a breath — a poetic irony, given how much of life it quietly builds.