Etymology

methanotroph

M3E1T1H4A1N1O1T1R1O1P3H4

Today it means: Any bacterium or archaeon that consumes methane as a source of carbon and of energy. Full definition →

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

  1. Proto-Indo-European*médʰu
  2. Proto-Hellenic*métʰu
  3. Ancient Greekμέθυ (méthu)
  4. Proto-Indo-European*swel-der.?
  5. Ancient Greekῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
  6. GermanMethy
  7. Englishmethyl
  8. Englishmethane
  9. English todaymethanotroph

From methane + -o- + -troph.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.