Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Phenol
/ˈfiːnɒl/noun
A caustic crystalline compound, C6H5OH, used in disinfectants, resins and as a chemical feedstock.
The Greek roots
φαίνω
phaínō
to bring to light, shine
Literally: “the shining-substance alcohol”
Follow a root:φαίνω3 words
The story of the word
Auguste Laurent named benzene phène in 1841 because it was pulled from the coal gas that lit the streets, and φαίνω is the verb for giving light. Phenol is that name plus the alcohol ending. Lister sprayed it on wounds and instruments from 1867 and cut surgical deaths sharply, which is why hospitals smelled of carbolic for the next fifty years. The same verb sits inside phenomenon, a thing that shows itself.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1840s
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
phenomenonphantomphasephosphorusdiaphanous
In a sentence
The old lab still had a brown bottle of phenol on the top shelf, label half gone.