Etymology

tetraethyl

T1E1T1R1A1E1T1H4Y4L1

Today it means: Four ethyl groups in a molecule. Full definition →

English ethyl ← German Ethy ← Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
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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*h₂eydʰ-
  7. Proto-Hellenic*áitʰō
  8. Ancient Greekαἴθω (aíthō)
  9. Ancient Greekᾱ̓ήρ (āḗr)influ.?
  10. Ancient Greekαἰθήρ (aithḗr)
  11. Latinaethēr
  12. GermanÄther
  13. GermanEther
  14. Proto-Indo-European*swel-der.?
  15. Ancient Greekῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
  16. GermanEthy
  17. Englishethyl
  18. English todaytetraethyl

From tetra- + ethyl.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.