ethylene

Etymology

It is formed from English ethyl + -ene,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} probably on the model of methylene,^[3][2] and Merriam-Webster counts it as International Scientific Vocabulary.^[6][7] The OED notes that in the sense of the gas it first translated French éthérène, and that the sense of the radical apparently follows Swedish ethylen (recorded by 1840, now etylen), perhaps through German Aethylen, which is however recorded later than the English word.^[2] The word ethyl is from German Ethyl, coined by Liebig in 1834 from eth-, the first part of ether, and -yl,^[2][3] ultimately from Ancient Greek αἰθήρ (aithḗr, “the upper air”) and ὕλη (húlē, “stuff”).^[8] Klein credits the coinage to Berzelius in 1840.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A gaseous hydrocarbon of the alkene series: 1849, in the Chemical Gazette.^[2][6] Etymonline dates the word to 1852,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1850–55.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From 1853, in a translation of Gmelin's Hand-book of Chemistry, the word also named the divalent radical −CH2CH2−, chiefly in the names of compounds.^[2][9] The gas occurs in coal gas, natural gas and crude oil, is used above all to make polyethylene, and is given off by ripening fruit;^[2][4] the American Heritage Dictionary also describes it as a natural plant hormone used to ripen citrus fruit and as an anaesthetic.^[10][6] It is also called ethene.^[11][10][12]

Timeline

• 1849 – a gaseous hydrocarbon of the alkene series.^[2][6]
• 1853 – the divalent radical −CH2CH2−, in names of compounds.^[2][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A colourless, flammable gas, C2H4, an alkene, obtained from petroleum and natural gas and used to make polyethylene and other chemicals; it also acts as a plant hormone that ripens fruit.^{[11][10][6][4]}
2. (chemistry) The divalent radical −CH2CH2−, in the names of compounds.^[2][7]

Word family

• ethylenic
• perchloroethylene
• polyethylene
• tetrachloroethylene
• tetrafluoroethylene

Related words

• ethyl
• ether
• methylene
• ethene

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap