Standard Lemma guide

olefin

noun · 2 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.

  • /ˈəʊləfɪn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: OW1 L AH0 F IH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of a class of unsaturated open-chain hydrocarbons such as ethylene; an alkene with only one carbon-carbon double bond.

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

2

noun

Meaning 2

any unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbon

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: alkene, olefine

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: aliphatic compound

Narrower terms: ethylene, ethene

History

Etymology

From olefiant, "oil-producing".

Across languages

Translations

4 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: olefina — Translations
  • Finnish: olefiini — Translations
  • French: oléfine — Translations
  • Spanish: olefina — Translations