Where does “acetonitrile” come from?

Acetonitrile comes from English acetonitrile, a compound word formed from acetic acid and the chemical suffix nitrile, which derives from French nitrile.

acetonitrile (English): The simplest organic cyanide or nitrile, CHCN,...

Definitions

  1. The simplest organic cyanide or nitrile, CHCN,...

Ancestry of “acetonitrile”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishaceto-Containing a methyl group bonded to a carbonyl...
2Latinacētumvinegar
3French-ateate
4Latin-ātused
5Proto-Italic-ātos—
6Proto-Indo-European-éh₂tosForms adjectives from nouns, indicating the possession of a thing or a quality

Words derived from “acetonitrile”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -éh₂tos →Every word from Latin -ātus →Every word from French -ate →