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amyl alcohol

amyl alcohol

7.4
A colorless liquid used to dissolve things in chemistry labs
  • noun
  • /ˈeɪmɪl ˈæl.kə.hɔl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : alcohol amílico
  • The chemist used amyl alcohol as a solvent for the reaction.

Examples

  • Many amyl alcohols are used in various industrial applications.

  • The production process involves the extraction and purification of amyl alcohol from fusel oil.

  • Amyl alcohol is commonly used as a solvent in the laboratory for organic reactions.

  • Because of its distinctive smell, amyl alcohol can be easily identified in industrial settings.

  • Amyl alcohol is commonly used as a solvent in the laboratory for organic reactions.

  • Because of its distinctive smell, amyl alcohol can be easily identified in industrial settings.

  • The production process involves the extraction and purification of amyl alcohol from fusel oil.

Surface Forms

amyl alcohol singular
amyl alcohols plural

Morphology

amyl + alcohol

The term is compositionally built from 'amyl' (a five‑carbon/pentyl radical) + 'alcohol' (an organic molecule with an –OH group), so its meaning — an alcohol derived from an amyl/pentyl group or a mixture of such isomeric alcohols — is directly derivable from the parts. Chemical naming is highly regular and cross-linguistically similar, so a learner who knows the constituent definitions will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Amyl alcohol: The name amyl alcohol comes from the old word amyl, which came from a word for 'starch' because it was first found in fermented grain oils. Chemists later used amyl to name a five-carbon part of a chemical, so amyl alcohol means the alcohol that has that five-carbon piece.