Etymology

acetonitrile

A1C3E1T1O1N1I1T1R1I1L1E1

Today it means: The simplest organic cyanide or nitrile, CH₃CN, formally derived from acetic acid Full definition →

English nitrile ← Latin acētum ← Proto-Italic *akēō
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂eḱ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂eḱéh₁yeti
  3. Proto-Italic*akēō
  4. Latinaceō
  5. Latinacēscō
  6. Latinacētum
  7. Englishaceto-
  8. Englishbenzonitrileclip.
  9. Englishnitrile
  10. English todayacetonitrile

From aceto- + nitrile.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.