Standard Lemma guide

ethyl

name · 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.

  • UK: /ˈɛθaɪl/
  • UK: /ˈɛθɪl/
  • UK: /ˈiːθaɪl/
  • UK: /ˈiːθɪl/
  • Canada, US: /ˈɛθəl/
  • Canada: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • homophone: Ethel (for one pronunciation of ethyl)
  • rhymes with -ɛθɪl
  • CMU ARPABET: EH1 TH AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

Alternative form of Ethel: a female given name.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, alternative

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The univalent hydrocarbon radical, C2H5, formally derived from ethane by the loss of a hydrogen atom.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

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

the univalent hydrocarbon radical C2H5 derived from ethane by the removal of one hydrogen atom

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ethyl group, ethyl radical

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: alkyl, alkyl group, alkyl radical

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h2eydh-der. Proto-Hellenic *áithō Ancient Greek αἴθω (aíthō) ▲ Ancient Greek ᾱ̓ήρ (āḗr)influ.? Ancient Greek αἰθήρ (aithḗr)der. Latin aethērbor. German Äther German Ether Proto-Indo-European *swel-der.? Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)der. German -yl German Ethylbor. English ethyl From German Ethyl, from Ether + -yl.

Across languages

Translations

17 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: etil — C2H5
  • Chinese Cantonese: 乙基 (jyut3 gei1) — C2H5
  • Chinese Mandarin: 乙基 (yǐjī) — C2H5
  • Finnish: etyyli — C2H5
  • German: Ethyl — C2H5
  • German: Äthyl — C2H5
  • Greek: αιθύλιο (aithýlio) — C2H5
  • Hungarian: etil — C2H5
  • Irish: eitil — C2H5
  • Italian: etile — C2H5
  • Polish: etyl — C2H5
  • Portuguese: etilo — C2H5
  • Portuguese: etila — C2H5
  • Russian: эти́л (etíl) — C2H5
  • Spanish: etilo — C2H5
  • Swedish: etyl — C2H5
  • Turkish: etil — C2H5
Real reading context

ethyl in complete knowledge articles