The story
Clipping of benzonitrile, which contains the −C≡N group. Benzonitrile was discovered and named by Hermann Fehling in 1844.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
nitrile
Today it means: Any of a class of organic compounds containing a cyano functional group −C≡N; they are named as derivatives of the appropriate carboxylic acid. Full definition →