Etymology

alkylate

A1L1K5Y4L1A1T1E1

Today it means: To add one or more alkyl groups to a compound, especially by reacting with an alkylating agent Full definition →

English alkyl ← Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē) ← Proto-Indo-European *swel-der.?
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The story

  1. Akkadian𒎎𒋆𒁉𒍣𒁕 (guḫlum)
  2. Aramaicכוחלא (kuḥlā)
  3. Arabicكُحْل (kuḥl)
  4. Andalusian Arabicكُحُول (kuḥūl)
  5. Medieval Latinalcoho
  6. Middle Englishalcofol
  7. Englishalc(ohol)
  8. Proto-Indo-European*swel-der.?
  9. Ancient Greekῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
  10. Englishalkyl
  11. English todayalkylate

From alkyl + -ate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.