Monatomic anions are named as the element modified with an -ide ending. The charge follows in brackets, (optional for 1) e.g.:
* Cl) or chloride
* S)
Some elements take their Latin name as the root e.g
*silver, Ag, argentide
*copper, Cu, cupride
*iron, Fe, ferride
*tin, Sn, stannide
Polyatomic anions of the same element are named as the element name preceded by di-, tri-, etc., e.g.:
* O) (or peroxide as an acceptable name)
* C) (or acetylide as an acceptable name)
* S)
or sometimes as an alternative derived from a substitutive name e.g.
* S</sup> disulfanediide
Polyatomic anions made up of different elements are named either substitutively or additively, the name endings are -ide and -ate respectively e.g. :
* GeH) (additive)
*TeH</sup> tellanuide substitutive where -uide specifies anion composed of additional hydride attached to parent hydride
* [PF]-phosphanuide (substitutive), or hexafluoridophosphate(1) (additive)
*SO) (additive), or sulfite (acceptable non-systematic name)
A full list of the alternative acceptable non-systematic names for cations and anions is in the recommendations.
Many anions have names derived from inorganic acids and these are dealt with later.