Etymology

dynamite

dy·na·mite
D2Y4N1A1M3I1T1E1

Today it means: A class of explosives made from nitroglycerine in an absorbent medium such as kieselguhr, used in mining and blasting. Full definition →

Ancient Greek δύναμις
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromδύναμις“power”
  2. English todaydynamite

Coined by Alfred Nobel in 1867. Ultimately from Ancient Greek δύναμις (dúnamis, “power”) + -ite, most likely under the influence of dynamo or dynamic.

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekδύναμις all →

dynamodynamismdynamisadynamiadynactinometer-dynedynodeisodyn

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.