formaldehyde

Etymology

It is formed from English form- + aldehyde,^[2][3][4] a contraction of the phrase “formic aldehyde”,^[5][6] with form- taken from formic acid.^[4][7][8] The Oxford Dictionary of English calls it a blend of formic acid and aldehyde.^[9][10] Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com note that it was first formed as German Formaldehyd.^[3][11] Formic is from Latin formīca (“ant”),^[5] and aldehyde is from Aldehyd, coined from the first letters of New Latin alcohol dehydrogenatum (“alcohol deprived of hydrogen”).^[2][5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The choking gas CH2O: 1872, as a heading in the Journal of the Chemical Society.^[2][3][4] Etymonline dates the word to 1869,^[5] and Dictionary.com to 1870–75.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline says the gas was discovered in 1863 by the German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann.^[5] Its name records how it is related to formic acid, the acid first distilled from red ants,^[5] and the word has kept its single chemical meaning; its use as a preservative and antiseptic, and in large quantities in the chemical industry, is part of the OED's definition.^[2]

Timeline

• 1872 – the gas CH2O.^[2][3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A colourless, pungent, poisonous gas, CH2O, the simplest aldehyde, made by oxidation of methanol and used in solution as a preservative and disinfectant and in making resins.^{[7][10][8][3]}

Word family

• paraformaldehyde
• urea-formaldehyde

Related words

• formalin
• formic acid
• formol
• aldehyde

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House