Standard Lemma guide

benzene

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈbɛnziːn/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛnziːn
  • CMU ARPABET: B EH0 N Z IY1 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: B EH1 N Z IY0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An aromatic hydrocarbon of formula C6H6 whose structure consists of a ring of alternate single and double bonds.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, organic-chemistry, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: volatile organic compound

2

noun

Meaning 2

Sometimes used in place of the phenyl group.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: in-compounds, uncountable, usually

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, organic-chemistry, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a colorless liquid hydrocarbon; highly inflammable; carcinogenic; the simplest of the aromatic compounds

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: benzine, benzol

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: aromatic hydrocarbon

Narrower terms: benzene formula, benzene ring, benzene nucleus, Kekule formula

History

Etymology

Etymology tree German Benzoe Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos Proto-Italic *-īnos Latin -īnusder. German -in German Benzinbor. English benzine English benzene A technical term in chemistry, adopted in English in 1835 as benzine (benzene from 1872), from German Benzin, which was coined in 1833 by Eilhardt Mitscherlich based on Benzoesäure (“benzoic acid”), plus the technical ending -ene (German -in) denoting hydrocarbons. The adjective benzoic is in turn from benzoin, originally a term for a balsamic resin from Middle French benjoin, from Spanish benjuí, Portuguese beijoim, Italian benzoe, probably, from Arabic لُبَان جَاوِيّ (lubān jāwiyy, “Javanese frankincense”). Not related to German Benz (surname).

Across languages

Translations

62 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: بَنْزِين (banzīn) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Armenian: բենզոլ (benzol) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Asturian: bencén — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Asturian: bencenu — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Belarusian: бензо́л (bjenzól) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Bulgarian: бензо́л (benzól) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Catalan: benzè — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Chinese Cantonese: 苯 (bun2) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Chinese Mandarin: 苯 (běn) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Czech: benzen — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Danish: benzen — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Dutch: benzeen — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Esperanto: benzeno — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Finnish: bentseeni — aromatic compound C6H6
  • French: benzène — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Galician: benceno — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Georgian: ბენზოლი (benzoli) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • German: Benzol — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Greek: βενζόλιο (venzólio) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Greek: βενζόλη (venzóli) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Hindi: धूपेन्य (dhūpenya) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Hungarian: benzol — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Icelandic: bensen — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Icelandic: bensól — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Ido: benzeno — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Indonesian: benzena — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Irish: beinséin — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Italian: benzene — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Italian: benzolo — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Japanese: ベンゼン (benzen) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Japanese: ベンゾール (benzōru) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Korean: 벤젠 (benjen) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Korean: 벤졸 (benjol) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Latvian: benzols — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Lithuanian: benzènas — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Macedonian: бензен (benzen) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Malay: benzena — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Norwegian Bokmål: benzen — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: benzen — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Persian: بنزین (benzin) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Polish: benzen — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Portuguese: benzeno — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Romanian: benzen — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Russian: бензо́л (benzól) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Serbo-Croatian: бѐнзе̄н — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Serbo-Croatian: бѐнзо̄л — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Serbo-Croatian: bènzēn — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Serbo-Croatian: bènzōl — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Slovak: benzén — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Slovene: benzén — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Spanish: benceno — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Swahili: benzini — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Swedish: bensen — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Tamil: பென்சீன் (peṉcīṉ) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Tok Pisin: bensin — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Turkish: benzen — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Ukrainian: бензе́н (benzén) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Ukrainian: бензо́л (benzól) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Urdu: بنزین (benzīn) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Vietnamese: benzen — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Yiddish: בענזין (benzin) — aromatic compound C6H6
  • Yiddish: בענזאָל (benzol) — aromatic compound C6H6