Etymology

diesel

D2I1E1S1E1L1

Today it means: A fuel derived from petroleum (or other oils) but heavier than gasoline/petrol. Used to power diesel engines which burn this fuel using the heat produced when air is compressed. Full definition →

German Diesel
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. German · borrowed fromDiesel
  2. English todaydiesel

From German Diesel, named after inventor Rudolf Diesel, who developed a heavy-duty engine in Germany (1892–1897) and perfected it throughout his life.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.