Etymology

tetramethyl

T1E1T1R1A1M3E1T1H4Y4L1

Today it means: (in combination) Four methyl groups in a molecule. Full definition →

English methyl ← German Methy ← 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*médʰu
  7. Proto-Hellenic*métʰu
  8. Ancient Greekμέθυ (méthu)
  9. Proto-Indo-European*swel-der.?
  10. Ancient Greekῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
  11. GermanMethy
  12. Englishmethyl
  13. English todaytetramethyl

From tetra- + methyl.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.