Etymology

isoalkane

I1S1O1A1L1K5A1N1E1

Today it means: Any branched-chain alkane, but especially one having a methyl group attached to the penultimate carbon atom of the main chain Full definition →

English alkane ← German Alkan ← Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
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The story

  1. Ancient Greekῐ̓́σος (ĭ́sos)
  2. Englishiso-
  3. Akkadian𒎎𒋆𒁉𒍣𒁕 (guḫlum)
  4. Aramaicכוחלא (kuḥlā)
  5. Arabicكُحْل (kuḥl)
  6. Andalusian Arabicكُحُول (kuḥūl)
  7. Medieval Latinalcoho
  8. GermanAlk(ohol)
  9. Proto-Indo-European*swel-der.?
  10. Ancient Greekῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
  11. GermanAlkyl
  12. Germanalk-
  13. GermanAlkan
  14. Englishalkane
  15. English todayisoalkane

From iso- (“isomeric”) + alkane.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.