Chloride of what? The word chloride can refer to a chemical compound in which one or more chlorine atoms are covalently bonded in the molecule. This means that chlorides can be either inorganic or organic compounds. The simplest example of an inorganic covalently-bonded chloride is hydrogen chloride, HCl (a colorless acid). A simple example of an organic covalently-bonded (an organochloride) chloride is chloromethane (CH3Cl), often called methyl chloride (a colorless gas). Sodium Chloride is (as a monocrystalline solid) colorless but as a powder, opaque.