methyl
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methyl
- /ˈmɛθaɪl/ UK
- /ˈmɛθɪl/ UK
- /ˈmiːθaɪl/ UK
- /ˈmiːθɪl/ UK
- /ˈmɛθəl/ Canada, US
Rhymes with -ɛθɪl
Where it comes from
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *médʰu
Proto-Hellenic *métʰu
Ancient Greek μέθυ (méthu)
Proto-Indo-European *swel-der.?
Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)der.
German -yl
German Methylbor.
English methyl
Borrowed from German Methyl; compare French méthyle.
French chemists Jean-Baptiste Dumas and Eugene Peligot, after determining methanol's chemical structure, introduced "methylene" from the Ancient Greek μέθυ (méthu, “wine”) + ὕλη (húlē, “wood, material”) with the intention of highlighting its origins, "alcohol made from wood (substance)". The term "methyl" was derived in about 1840 by back-formation from "methylene", and was then applied to describe "methyl alcohol".
noun methyls
- The univalent hydrocarbon radical, CH₃-, formally derived from methane by the loss of a hydrogen atom; a compound or part of a compound formed by the attachment of such a radical. You might point out in the theory of oxidation of oils, in development of rancidity in oils, that many methyls accelerate this oxidation of oils. I do not want to burden you with a lecture on chemistry but there are some methyls like iron which has both a valence of two and of three. Another example
