Standard Lemma guide

ethylene

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.

  • /ˈɛθɪˌliːn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • /ˈɛθəˌliːn/ weak vowel merger
  • CMU ARPABET: EH1 TH AH0 L IY2 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The common name for the organic chemical compound ethene. The simplest alkene, a colorless gaseous (at room temperature and pressure) hydrocarbon with the chemical formula C2H4.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

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

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The divalent radical derived from ethane.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

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 flammable colorless gaseous alkene; obtained from petroleum and natural gas and used in manufacturing many other chemicals; sometimes used as an anesthetic

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ethene

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: alkene, olefine, olefin, gas

Narrower terms: trichloroethylene, trichloroethane, TCE

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 English eth- English -ylene English ethylene From eth- + -ylene.

Across languages

Translations

46 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bashkir: этилен (etilen) — compound
  • Catalan: etilè — compound
  • Chinese Mandarin: 乙烯 (yǐxī) — compound
  • Czech: etylen — compound
  • Danish: ætylen — compound
  • Dutch: etheen — compound
  • Esperanto: eteno — compound
  • Finnish: etyleeni — compound
  • Finnish: eteeni — compound
  • French: éthylène — compound
  • French: éthène — compound
  • German: Ethen — compound
  • German: Äthen — compound
  • German: Ethylen — compound
  • German: Äthylen — compound
  • Hindi: दक्षुलेन्य (dakṣulenya) — compound
  • Hungarian: etilén — compound
  • Irish: eitéin — compound
  • Irish: eitiléin — compound
  • Italian: etilene — compound
  • Japanese: エチレン (echiren) — compound
  • Japanese: エテン (eten) — compound
  • Kazakh: этилен (étilen) — compound
  • Kazakh: этен (éten) — compound
  • Korean: 에틸렌 (etillen) — compound
  • Kyrgyz: этилен (etilen) — compound
  • Kyrgyz: этен (eten) — compound
  • Norwegian Bokmål: etylen — compound
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: etylen — compound
  • Polish: eten — compound
  • Polish: etylen — compound
  • Portuguese: etileno — compound
  • Romanian: etilenă — compound
  • Russian: этиле́н (etilén) — compound
  • Spanish: etileno — compound
  • Swedish: eten — compound
  • Swedish: etylen — compound
  • Turkish: etilen — compound
  • Ukrainian: ете́н (etén) — compound
  • Ukrainian: етиле́н (etylén) — compound
  • French: éthylène — radical
  • Italian: etilene — radical
  • Japanese: エチレン基 (echiren-ki) — radical
  • Polish: eten — radical
  • Polish: etylen — radical
  • Ukrainian: етиле́н (etylén) — radical