The name Fauvel points to the French fauve ('chestnut, reddish-yellow, or fawn'), another sense of fauve meaning the class of wild animals whose coats are at least partly brown, and the medieval belief that a fallow horse was a symbol of deceit and dishonesty.
An oxidizing agent is a reactant that removes electrons from other reactants during a redox reaction. The oxidizing agent typically takes these electrons for itself, thus gaining electrons and being reduced. An oxidizing agent is thus an electron acceptor.
Thus, the MnO 4 - ion acts as an oxidizing agent in this reaction. Oxalic acid, on the other hand, is a reducing agent in this reaction. By giving up electrons, it reduces the MnO 4 - ion to Mn 2+ . Atoms, ions, and molecules that have an unusually large affinity for electrons tend to be good oxidizing agents.