Etymology

octacosane

O1C3T1A1C3O1S1A1N1E1

Today it means: Any of very many isomers of the aliphatic hydrocarbon having 28 carbon atoms, but especially n-octacosane CH₃(CH₂)₂₆CH₃ Full definition →

English octa- ← Ancient Greek ὀκτᾰ- (oktă-) ← Proto-Hellenic *oktṓ
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*oḱtṓw
  2. Proto-Hellenic*oktṓ
  3. Ancient Greekὀκτώ (oktṓ)
  4. Ancient Greekὀκτᾰ- (oktă-)
  5. Englishocta-
  6. English todayoctacosane

From octa- + -cos- + -ane.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.