ethylene

E1T1H4Y4L1E1N1E1
/ˈɛθɪˌliːn//ˈɛθəˌliːn/

noun

The common name for the organic chemical compound ethene. The simplest alkene, a colorless gaseous (at room temperature and pressure) hydrocarbon with the chemical formula C₂H₄.

Less commonScrabble 14

Meanings

nounethylene (countable and uncountable, plural ethylenes)

plural ethylenes

  1. countableuncountablechemistryThe common name for the organic chemical compound ethene. The simplest alkene, a colorless gaseous (at room temperature and pressure) hydrocarbon with the chemical formula C₂H₄.

    SE onset depends on a complex network of interactions among plant growth regulators, mainly auxins and cytokinins, during the proembryogenic early stages, and ethylene and gibberellic and abscisic acids later in the development of somatic embryos.

    2015 August 18, Clelia De-la-Peña et al., “The role of chromatin modifications in somatic embryogenesis in plants”, in Frontiers in Plant Science, volume 6, →DOI
    1 more example

    As a demonstration, we first establish the correctness of the Jacobian matrices for kinetic models of hydrogen, methane, ethylene, and isopentanol oxidation, then demonstrate the performance achievable on CPUs and GPUs using pyJac via matrix evaluation timing comparisons..

    2016, Kyle E. Niemeyer, Nicholas J. Curtis, Chih-Jen Sung, “pyJac: analytical Jacobian generator for chemical kinetics”, in arXiv
  2. countableuncountablechemistryThe divalent radical derived from ethane.

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna flammable colorless gaseous alkene; obtained from petroleum and natural gas and used in manufacturing many other chemicals; sometimes used as an anesthetic

Similar
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂eydʰ-
  2. Proto-Hellenic*áitʰō
  3. Ancient Greekαἴθω (aíthō)
  4. Ancient Greekᾱ̓ήρ (āḗr)influ.?
  5. Ancient Greekαἰθήρ (aithḗr)
  6. Latinaethēr
  7. GermanÄther
  8. GermanEther
  9. Proto-Indo-European*swel-der.?
  10. Ancient Greekῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
  11. GermanEthy
  12. Englishethyl
  13. Englisheth-
  14. Ancient Greekῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
  15. Englishethylene

From eth- + -ylene.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan etilè
  • etilècompound
Chinese Mandarin 乙烯
  • 乙烯 (yǐxī)compound
Czech etylen
  • etylencompound
Danish ætylen
  • ætylencompound
Dutch etheen
  • etheencompound
Esperanto eteno
  • etenocompound
Finnish etyleeni, eteeni
  • etyleenicompound
  • eteenicompound
French éthylène, éthène
  • éthylènecompound
  • éthènecompound
  • éthylèneradical
German Ethen, Äthen
  • Ethencompound
  • Äthencompound
  • Ethylencompound
  • Äthylencompound
Hindi दक्षुलेन्य
  • दक्षुलेन्य (dakṣulenya)compound
Hungarian etilén
  • etiléncompound
Irish eitéin, eitiléin
  • eitéincompound
  • eitiléincompound
Italian etilene, etilene
  • etilenecompound
  • etileneradical
Japanese エチレン, エテン
  • エチレン (echiren)compound
  • エテン (eten)compound
  • エチレン基 (echiren-ki)radical
Korean 에틸렌
  • 에틸렌 (etillen)compound
Norwegian Bokmål etylen
  • etylencompound
Polish eten, etylen
  • etencompound
  • etylencompound
  • etenradical
  • etylenradical
Portuguese etileno
  • etilenocompound
Romanian etilenă
  • etilenăcompound
Russian этиле́н
  • этиле́н (etilén)compound
Spanish etileno
  • etilenocompound
Swedish eten, etylen
  • etencompound
  • etylencompound
Turkish etilen
  • etilencompound
Ukrainian ете́н, етиле́н
  • ете́н (etén)compound
  • етиле́н (etylén)compound
  • етиле́н (etylén)radical
Vietnamese etilen
  • etilencompound
Cite this entry
APA

ethylene. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ethylene

MLA

“ethylene.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ethylene. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ethylene,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ethylene.

Source: ethylene on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.