Etymology

bromochloromethane

Today it means: A colorless halogenated organic compound made of carbon, hydrogen, bromine, and chlorine. It belongs to the halomethane family and has a tetrahedral molecular structure. The chemical was used in fire suppression systems and as an industrial chemical intermediate, but production was discontinued because it damages the ozone layer. Full definition →

English methane ← German Methy ← Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
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The story

  1. Ancient Greekβρῶμος (brômos)
  2. Frenchbrome
  3. Englishbrome
  4. Englishbromine
  5. Englishbromo-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰelh₃-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰl̥h₃rós
  8. Proto-Hellenic*kʰlōrós
  9. Ancient Greekχλωρός (khlōrós)
  10. Englishchloro-
  11. Proto-Indo-European*médʰu
  12. Proto-Hellenic*métʰu
  13. Ancient Greekμέθυ (méthu)
  14. Proto-Indo-European*swel-der.?
  15. Ancient Greekῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
  16. GermanMethy
  17. Englishmethyl
  18. Englishmethane
  19. English todaybromochloromethane

From bromo- + chloro- + methane.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.