Etymology

polyethylene

P3O1L1Y4E1T1H4Y4L1E1N1E1

Today it means: A polymer consisting of many ethylene monomers bonded together; used for kitchenware, containers etc. Full definition →

English ethylene ← Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē) ← German Ethy
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pleh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*polh₁ús
  3. Ancient Greekπολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)
  4. Englishpoly-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*h₂eydʰ-
  6. Proto-Hellenic*áitʰō
  7. Ancient Greekαἴθω (aíthō)
  8. Ancient Greekᾱ̓ήρ (āḗr)influ.?
  9. Ancient Greekαἰθήρ (aithḗr)
  10. Latinaethēr
  11. GermanÄther
  12. GermanEther
  13. Proto-Indo-European*swel-der.?
  14. Ancient Greekῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
  15. GermanEthy
  16. Englishethyl
  17. Englisheth-
  18. Ancient Greekῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
  19. Englishethylene
  20. English todaypolyethylene

From poly- + ethylene.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.