Etymology

polyoxymethylene

Today it means: A polymer of formaldehyde having a repeat unit of -CH₂-O- ; it is used in engineering to make small gears etc Full definition →

English methylene ← French méthylène ← Ancient Greek ὀξῠ́ς (oxŭ́s)
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pleh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*polh₁ús
  3. Ancient Greekπολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)
  4. Englishpoly-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*h₂eḱ-der.?
  6. Ancient Greekὀξῠ́ς (oxŭ́s)
  7. Englishoxy-
  8. Frenchméthylène
  9. Englishmethylene
  10. English todaypolyoxymethylene

From poly- + oxy- + methylene.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.