Etymology

chlorofluoromethane

Today it means: Any halogenated derivative of methane containing both chlorine and fluorine; but especially CH₂ClF, sometimes used as a refrigerant. Full definition →

English methane ← German Methy ← Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰelh₃-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰl̥h₃rós
  3. Proto-Hellenic*kʰlōrós
  4. Ancient Greekχλωρός (khlōrós)
  5. Englishchloro-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*bʰel-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*bʰlewH-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*bʰluH-yé-ti?
  9. Latinfluō
  10. Latinfluor
  11. Englishfluoro-
  12. Proto-Indo-European*médʰu
  13. Proto-Hellenic*métʰu
  14. Ancient Greekμέθυ (méthu)
  15. Proto-Indo-European*swel-der.?
  16. Ancient Greekῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
  17. GermanMethy
  18. Englishmethyl
  19. Englishmethane
  20. English todaychlorofluoromethane

From chloro- + fluoro- + methane.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.