Etymology

tetrahydrofuran

T1E1T1R1A1H4Y4D2R1O1F4U1R1A1N1

Today it means: A heterocyclic ether having a five-membered ring with four carbon atoms and one oxygen; it is a colourless liquid with an ether-like smell, and is used as a polar solvent. Full definition →

English furan ← German Aldehyd ← Ancient Greek ῠ̔δρο- (hŭdro-)
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

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*wed-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*wódr̥
  8. Proto-Hellenic*údōr
  9. Ancient Greekῡ̆̔́δωρ (hū̆́dōr)
  10. Ancient Greekῠ̔δρο- (hŭdro-)
  11. Englishhydro-
  12. Latinfurfur
  13. Akkadian𒎎𒋆𒁉𒍣𒁕 (guḫlum)
  14. Aramaicכוחלא (kuḥlā)
  15. Arabicكُحْل (kuḥl)
  16. Andalusian Arabicكُحُول (kuḥūl)
  17. Latinalcohol
  18. Proto-Indo-European*de
  19. Proto-Indo-European*déh₁
  20. Proto-Italic*dē
  21. Latindē
  22. Latinde-
  23. Ancient Greekῠ̔δρο- (hŭdro-)
  24. GermanAldehyd
  25. Englishaldehydeclip.
  26. Englishfurfural
  27. Englishfuran
  28. English todaytetrahydrofuran

From tetra- + hydro- + furan.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.