Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Ethylene
/ˈɛθɪliːn/noun
The simplest alkene, a flammable gas used to make polythene and to ripen fruit.
The Greek roots
αἰθήρ
aithḗr
upper air, blazing sky
ὕλη
hýlē
matter, wood
Literally: “ether-stuff”
The story of the word
The name comes from ethyl, itself built by Liebig in 1834 from aether plus hyle, the stuff that ether is made of. Plants make ethylene themselves as a ripening hormone, which is the chemistry behind the old trick of putting a banana in a bag with hard avocados. The -ene ending is arbitrary chemical bookkeeping for a double bond, not Greek.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
ethyletherhylomorphismpolythene
In a sentence
Ethylene given off by the apples ripened everything else in the fruit bowl within days.