acetic

Etymology

It is borrowed from French acétique (“relating to vinegar, sour”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} formed from Latin acētum (“sour wine, vinegar”) and -ique.^[2][4] Barnhart allows that it may instead have been formed in English from the Latin noun and -ic.^[8] The French word is recorded in 1787, in the work on chemical nomenclature that the first English quotation translates.^[2] The Latin noun is properly vīnum acētum (“wine turned sour”),^[3] from acētus, the verbal adjective of aceō (“to be sour”),^[4][3][8] which Merriam-Webster traces to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ-eh₁- (“to be sharp”)^[4] and Etymonline to *ak- (“to be sharp, rise to a point, pierce”).^[3] It is related to ācer (“sharp”), the source of acrid.^[8][3] The OED compares German essigsauer (“acid like vinegar”) (1783 or earlier) and the earlier acetous and acetose.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to the acid of vinegar, in acetic acid: 1788, in an English translation of the French chemists' new nomenclature by Guyton de Morveau and others.^[2] Merriam-Webster also gives 1788,^[4] while Etymonline and Barnhart date the word to 1808.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

The adjective came in with the reform of chemical names at the end of the 18th century, mainly in the name acetic acid, the weak acid of which vinegar is a dilute solution.^[2][6] The general sense "relating to or producing acetic acid" is recorded from the late 19th century,^[6] and the OED also uses it of compounds containing an acetyl group.^[2]

Timeline

• 1788 – in acetic acid, relating to the acid of vinegar.^[2][4]
• late 19th century – relating to or producing acetic acid, as in acetic fermentation.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, containing, producing or derived from acetic acid or vinegar.^[4][9][2]

Word family

• chloroacetic
• acetic anhydride
• acetic acid

Related words

• acid
• acrid
• acetate
• acetone
• acetous
• ascetic

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins