Etymology

isobutene

I1S1O1B3U1T1E1N1E1

Today it means: The unsaturated hydrocarbon methylpropene, (CH₃)₂C=CH₂; used in the manufacture of polybutene and butyl rubber. Full definition →

English butene ← Ancient Greek βούτῡρος (boútūros) ← Proto-Hellenic *tūrós
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Ancient Greekῐ̓́σος (ĭ́sos)
  2. Englishiso-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*gʷṓws
  4. Proto-Hellenic*gʷous
  5. Ancient Greekβοῦς (boûs)
  6. Proto-Indo-European*tewh₂-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*tuh₂rós
  8. Proto-Hellenic*tūrós
  9. Ancient Greekτῡρός (tūrós)
  10. Ancient Greekβούτῡρος (boútūros)
  11. Englishbut-
  12. Englishbutene
  13. English todayisobutene

From iso- + butene.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.