The story
Coined in 1788 by the translator of de Morveau, Lavoisier et al.'s 1787 book Méthode de nomenclature chimique James St. John as a translation and partial calque of French carbure, with the original (noun) sense displaced by carbide during the mid-19th century. By surface analysis, carbon + -uret.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.