Meanings
plural kerosenes · alternative kerosine
- countableuncountableA thin, often colorless or blue or straw-colored petroleum-based fuel, heavier than gasoline/petrol or naphtha but lighter than diesel, used primarily as jet fuel but also for heating and lighting in some remote or impoverished areas.
The kerosene lasted all winter, so the furnace kept us always warm.
1 more example
The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.[…]It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber. Other liquids produced in the refining process, too unstable or smoky for lamplight, were burned or dumped.
2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847, archived from the original on 24 Aug 2013
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA thin, often colorless or blue or straw-colored petroleum-based fuel, heavier than gasoline/petrol or naphtha but lighter than diesel, used primarily as jet fuel but also for heating and lighting in some remote or impoverished areas.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna flammable hydrocarbon oil used as fuel in lamps and heaters
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From Ancient Greek κηρός (kērós, “wax”) + -ene; a name trademarked in 1854. An older term for kerosene was carbon oil.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic كِيرُوسِين
- كِيرُوسِين (kīrūsīn)thin, colorless fuel
Basque keroseno
- kerosenothin, colorless fuel
Bulgarian кероси́н
- кероси́н (kerosín)thin, colorless fuel
Catalan querosè
- querosèthin, colorless fuel
Chinese Cantonese 火水
- 火水 (fo² seoi²)thin, colorless fuel
Chinese Mandarin 煤油, 火油
- 煤油 (méiyóu)thin, colorless fuel
- 火油 (huǒyóu)thin, colorless fuel
- 燈油 /灯油 (dēngyóu)thin, colorless fuel
Czech petrolej
- petrolejthin, colorless fuel
Danish petroleum
- petroleumthin, colorless fuel
Dutch kerosine
- kerosinethin, colorless fuel
Esperanto keroseno, petrolo
- kerosenothin, colorless fuel
- petrolothin, colorless fuel
Estonian petrooleum, lambiõli
- petrooleumthin, colorless fuel
- lambiõlithin, colorless fuel
Finnish petroli, kerosiini
- petrolithin, colorless fuel
- kerosiinithin, colorless fuel
French kérosène
- kérosènethin, colorless fuel
German Petroleum, Kerosin
- Petroleumthin, colorless fuel
- Kerosinthin, colorless fuel
Greek κηροζίνη
- κηροζίνη (kirozíni)thin, colorless fuel
Hebrew קֵרוֹסִין
- קֵרוֹסִין (kerosin)thin, colorless fuel
Hindi मिट्टी का तेल, केरोसीन
- मिट्टी का तेल (miṭṭī kā tel)thin, colorless fuel
- केरोसीन (kerosīn)thin, colorless fuel
Hungarian kerozin
- kerozinthin, colorless fuel
Icelandic kerósín
- kerósínthin, colorless fuel
Indonesian kerosin
- kerosinthin, colorless fuel
Irish ceirisín
- ceirisínthin, colorless fuel
Italian cherosene
- cherosenethin, colorless fuel
Japanese 灯油, ケロシン
- 灯油 (tōyu)thin, colorless fuel
- ケロシン (keroshin)thin, colorless fuel
Korean 등유, 케로신
- 등유 (deung'yu)thin, colorless fuel
- 케로신 (kerosin)thin, colorless fuel
Latvian petroleja
- petrolejathin, colorless fuel
Lithuanian žibalas
- žibalasthin, colorless fuel
Malay minyak tanah
- minyak tanahthin, colorless fuel
Māori karahīni
- karahīnithin, colorless fuel
Norwegian Bokmål parafin
- parafinthin, colorless fuel
Persian نفت سفید, نفت
- نفت سفید (naft-e sefid)thin, colorless fuel
- نفت (naft)thin, colorless fuel
- نفت چراغ (naft-e čerâġ)thin, colorless fuel
- کروسن (kerosen)thin, colorless fuel
Polish nafta
- naftathin, colorless fuel
Portuguese querosene
- querosenethin, colorless fuel
Punjabi ਮਿੱਟੀ ਦਾ ਤੇਲ
- ਮਿੱਟੀ ਦਾ ਤੇਲ (miṭṭī dā tel)thin, colorless fuel
Romanian petrol lampant, kerosen
- petrol lampantthin, colorless fuel
- kerosenthin, colorless fuel
Russian кероси́н
- кероси́н (kerosín)thin, colorless fuel
Slovak petrolej
- petrolejthin, colorless fuel
Spanish queroseno, canfín
- querosenothin, colorless fuel
- canfínthin, colorless fuel
- kerosenothin, colorless fuel
- kerosenethin, colorless fuel
- kerosénthin, colorless fuel
- kerosínthin, colorless fuel
- kerexthin, colorless fuel
- kerosinathin, colorless fuel
Swahili kerosini
- kerosinithin, colorless fuel
Swedish fotogen
- fotogenthin, colorless fuel
Tagalog gaas, kerosina
- gaasthin, colorless fuel
- kerosinathin, colorless fuel
Tamil மண்ணெண்ணெய்
- மண்ணெண்ணெய் (maṇṇeṇṇey)thin, colorless fuel
Thai น้ำมันก๊าด, ก๊าด
- น้ำมันก๊าด (nám-man-gáat)thin, colorless fuel
- ก๊าด (gáat)thin, colorless fuel
Turkish kerosen
- kerosenthin, colorless fuel
Ukrainian гас, кероси́н
- гас (has)thin, colorless fuel
- кероси́н (kerosýn)thin, colorless fuel
Vietnamese dầu hỏa, dầu lửa
- dầu hỏathin, colorless fuel
- dầu lửathin, colorless fuel
- kêrôsinthin, colorless fuel
Zulu uphalafini
- uphalafinithin, colorless fuel
Cite this entry
kerosene. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kerosene
“kerosene.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kerosene. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kerosene,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kerosene.
Source: kerosene on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.