Etymology

hexamethyl

H4E1X8A1M3E1T1H4Y4L1

Today it means: (in combination) six methyl groups in a molecule Full definition →

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

  1. Proto-Indo-European*swéḱs
  2. Proto-Hellenic*hwéks
  3. Ancient Greekἕξ (héx)
  4. Ancient Greekἑξα- (hexa-)
  5. Latinhexa-
  6. Englishhexa-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*médʰu
  8. Proto-Hellenic*métʰu
  9. Ancient Greekμέθυ (méthu)
  10. Proto-Indo-European*swel-der.?
  11. Ancient Greekῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
  12. GermanMethy
  13. Englishmethyl
  14. English todayhexamethyl

From hexa- + methyl.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.