Where does “Nitro” come from?
Nitro comes from English nitrocellulose, which combines English cellulose with Ancient Greek νίτρον, ultimately from Egyptian nṯr via nṯrj.
Nitro (English): The univalent NO2 functional group
Definitions
- The univalent NO2 functional group
Ancestry of “Nitro”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | nitrocellulose | A cotton-like material, made from cellulose by... |
| 2 | English | cellulose | A complex carbohydrate that forms the main... |
| 3 | French | cellulose | cellulose |
| 4 | French | cellule | cell; table cell |
| 5 | Latin | cellula | small room, especially that of a slave; humble... |
| 6 | Latin | -ulus | Used to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -olos | — |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -elos | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |