Meanings
plural acetaldehydes
- countableuncountablechemistryA colourless organic compound, CH₃CHO, occurring widely in nature and being produced on a large scale in industry.
When you have a drink, your body turns the ethanol that’s present in the alcoholic beverage into a “really nasty substance” called acetaldehyde, which can damage your DNA, said Timothy Stockwell, an alcohol researcher at the University of Victoria in Canada.
2025 May 20, Caroline Hopkins Legaspi, quoting Timothy Stockwell, “Is There a Least Bad Alcohol?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 20 May 2025Synonyms: acetic aldehyde, ethanal
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA colourless organic compound, CH₃CHO, occurring widely in nature and being produced on a large scale in industry.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna colorless volatile water-soluble liquid aldehyde used chiefly in the manufacture of acetic acid and perfumes and drugs
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂eḱ-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂eḱéh₁yeti
- Proto-Italic*akēō
- Latinaceō
- Latinacēscō
- Latinacētum
- Englishaceto-
- Englishacet-
- Akkadian𒎎𒋆𒁉𒍣𒁕 (guḫlum)
- Aramaicכוחלא (kuḥlā)
- Arabicكُحْل (kuḥl)
- Andalusian Arabicكُحُول (kuḥūl)
- Latinalcohol
- Proto-Indo-European*de
- Proto-Indo-European*déh₁
- Proto-Italic*dē
- Latindē
- Latinde-
- Proto-Indo-European*wed-
- Proto-Indo-European*wódr̥
- Proto-Hellenic*údōr
- Ancient Greekῡ̆̔́δωρ (hū̆́dōr)
- Ancient Greekῠ̔δρο- (hŭdro-)
- GermanAldehyd
- Englishaldehyde
- Englishacetaldehyde
Translations
Catalan acetaldehid
- acetaldehidthe organic compound CH3CHO
Chinese Cantonese 乙醛, 醋醛
- 乙醛 (jyut³ cyun⁴)the organic compound CH3CHO
- 醋醛 (cou³ cyun⁴)the organic compound CH3CHO
Chinese Mandarin 乙醛, 醋醛
- 乙醛 (yǐquán)the organic compound CH3CHO
- 醋醛 (cùquán)the organic compound CH3CHO
Czech acetaldehyd
- acetaldehydthe organic compound CH3CHO
Esperanto acetaldehido
- acetaldehidothe organic compound CH3CHO
Finnish asetaldehydi
- asetaldehydithe organic compound CH3CHO
French acétaldéhyde, éthanal
- acétaldéhydethe organic compound CH3CHO
- éthanalthe organic compound CH3CHO
German Acetaldehyd
- Acetaldehydthe organic compound CH3CHO
Greek ακεταλδεΰδη
- ακεταλδεΰδη (aketaldeÿ́di)the organic compound CH3CHO
Hungarian acetaldehid
- acetaldehidthe organic compound CH3CHO
Irish aicéataildéad
- aicéataildéadthe organic compound CH3CHO
Italian acetaldeide
- acetaldeidethe organic compound CH3CHO
Japanese アセトアルデヒド
- アセトアルデヒドthe organic compound CH3CHO
Persian استالدهید
- استالدهید (asetâldehid)the organic compound CH3CHO
Polish acetaldehyd, aldehyd octowy
- acetaldehydthe organic compound CH3CHO
- aldehyd octowythe organic compound CH3CHO
Portuguese acetaldeído, etanal
- acetaldeídothe organic compound CH3CHO
- etanalthe organic compound CH3CHO
Spanish acetaldehído
- acetaldehídothe organic compound CH3CHO
Swedish etanal
- etanalthe organic compound CH3CHO
Turkish asetaldehit
- asetaldehitthe organic compound CH3CHO
Ukrainian етана́ль, о́цтовий альдегі́д
- етана́ль (etanálʹ)the organic compound CH3CHO
- о́цтовий альдегі́д (óctovyj alʹdehíd)the organic compound CH3CHO
Cite this entry
acetaldehyde. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acetaldehyde
“acetaldehyde.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acetaldehyde. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “acetaldehyde,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acetaldehyde.
Source: acetaldehyde on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.