acetate

Etymology

It is borrowed from French acétate,^[2][3][4] formed from acét-, as in acétique (“acetic”), and the suffix -ate.^[2][3] The French word is recorded in 1787, in the chemical work whose translation gives the first English record.^[2] Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford analyse the English word as acetic, or its Latin source, with the chemical suffix -ate.^[5][6][7] The stem goes back to Latin acētum (“vinegar”),^[5][8][2] a noun use of the neuter past participle of aceō (“to be sour”),^[2][5] which Etymonline relates to ācer (“sharp”) and to Proto-Indo-European *ak- (“to be sharp, rise to a point, pierce”).^[5][9] The OED compares German Essigsalz (“vinegar salt”), recorded from 1785 or earlier.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In chemistry, a salt of acetic acid: 1788, in John St John's translation of the chemical nomenclature of Guyton de Morveau and his colleagues.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1790, in a translation of Fourcroy,^[5] the 1989 edition of the OED to 1827,^[10] and Dictionary.com to 1820–30.^[7]

Semantic evolution

For more than a century the word was used only in chemistry, of the salts and esters of acetic acid; from 1863 photographers also used it for a toning solution containing an acetate.^[2] In the 20th century it came to name cellulose acetate and the materials made from it: a clear plastic film used in photography and graphic design (1911) and an artificial fibre for textiles (1914), often in acetate rayon or acetate silk.^[2][6] Etymonline dates the use for a synthetic material to 1920, as a short form of acetate silk (1912).^[5] From 1940 an acetate was also a disc for direct sound recording, originally coated with cellulose acetate.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1788 – in chemistry, a salt of acetic acid.^[2][3]
• 1863 – in photography, a toning solution containing an acetate.^[2]
• 1911 – cellulose acetate as a clear plastic film.^[2]
• 1914 – cellulose acetate as an artificial textile fibre.^[2] Etymonline dates the material sense to 1920.^[5]
• 1940 – a disc for direct sound recording.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. In chemistry, a salt or ester of acetic acid.^[11][3][2]
2. Cellulose acetate, especially as a synthetic fibre or the fabric woven from it.^[11][3][2]
3. A clear plastic film of cellulose acetate, or a sheet of it used in photography, graphic design or for projecting images.^[2][6]
4. A disc for direct sound recording, originally coated with cellulose acetate.^[2][6]

Word family

• oxaloacetate
• subacetate
• triacetate
• ammonium acetate
• amyl acetate
• cellulose acetate
• ethyl acetate

Related words

• acetic
• acid
• vinegar

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins