acetone

Etymology

It is borrowed from French acétone, named by the French chemist A. Bussy in 1833, from acétique (“acetic”) and the suffix -one.^[2][3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged explains it from esprit pyro-acétique (“pyro-acetic spirit”), an earlier name of the liquid.^[3] German had Aceton by 1837,^[2] and Collins takes the English word from it.^[4] The Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford analyse it as English acetic and -one.^[5][6] The first part goes back to Latin acētum (“vinegar”),^[7][8] and Etymonline notes that the chemical suffix -one owes its use to this word.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A colourless, volatile, flammable liquid used as a solvent: 1838, in Thomas Thomson's Chemistry of Organic Bodies.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates it to 1837,^[3] and Etymonline to 1839.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline glosses the name as "a derivative of acetic acid".^[7] The liquid is a ketone,^[3][6] and its systematic name is propanone.^[4][6] It is used as a solvent for paints, varnishes and lacquers and in nail-varnish remover.^[4][2]

Timeline

• 1838 – the volatile liquid ketone.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1837.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A colourless, volatile, flammable liquid ketone, CH₃COCH₃, with a sweetish smell, used as a solvent for paints and varnishes and in nail polish remover; propanone.^[4][3][2]

Word family

• acetonic
• bromoacetone
• chloroacetone
• acetonemia
• acetonuria

Related words

• acetic
• ketone

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.