Etymology

tetracarbon

T1E1T1R1A1C3A1R1B3O1N1

Today it means: Four carbon atoms in a compound Full definition →

English carbon ← French carbone ← Latin carbōnem
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kʷetwóres
  2. Proto-Hellenic*kʷétwores
  3. Ancient Greekτέσσᾰρες (téssăres)
  4. Ancient Greekτετρᾰ- (tetră-)
  5. Englishtetra-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*kerh₃-der.?
  7. Latincarbōnem
  8. Frenchcarbone
  9. Englishcarbon
  10. English todaytetracarbon

From tetra- + carbon.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.