Etymology

parathion

P3A1R1A1T1H4I1O1N1

Today it means: An organophosphorus insecticide acaricide, [O,O-diethyl-O-4-nitro-phenylthiophosphate], a powerful, dangerously toxic insecticide. Full definition →

English para- ← Ancient Greek πᾰρᾰ- (pără-) ← Proto-Hellenic *pərai
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
  3. Proto-Hellenic*pərai
  4. Ancient Greekπᾰρᾰ́ (părắ)
  5. Ancient Greekπᾰρᾰ- (pără-)
  6. Englishpara-
  7. English todayparathion

From para- (“p-”) + -thion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.