alcohol
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈæl.kə.hɒl/
ipa: /ˈæl.kə.hɔl/
ipa: /ˈæl.kə.hɑl/
ipa: /ˈɑl.kə.hɔl/
ipa: /ˈɑl.kə.hɑl/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈalkɵhɔl/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈɑl-/
note: Indic
ipa: /əlkɵˈhɔl/
Forms: form: alcohols
Etymology: First attested in the 15th century from Middle English alcofol, from Middle French alcohol or Spanish alcohol, derived from the Medieval Latin rendering alcohol transmitted in medical or alchemical literature of Arabic اَلْكُحْل (al-kuḥl, “kohl”), which in Andalusian Arabic also bore the form كُحُول (kuḥūl), قُحُول (quḥūl); bearing thus the meaning of stibnite first, then generalized in meaning to a powder obtained by triturating a material, then also to liquids obtained by boiling down, and specialized to mean spirit of wine, ethanol, in the 18th century, then the narrow chemical sense after 1850. Doublet of alcool and kohl.
Various old etymological notes.
* Bartholomew Traheron in his 1543 translation of John of Vigo introduces the word as a term used by "barbarous" (Moorish) authors for "fine powder": the barbarous auctours use alcohol, or (as I fynde it sometymes wryten) alcofoll, for moost fine poudre.
* William Johnson in his 1657 Lexicon Chymicum glosses the word as antimonium sive stibium. By extension, the word came to refer to any fluid obtained by distillation, including "alcohol of wine", the distilled essence of wine.
* Libavius in Alchymia (1594) has vini alcohol vel vinum alcalisatum.
* Johnson (1657) glosses alcohol vini as quando omnis superfluitas vini a vino separatur, ita ut accensum ardeat donec totum consumatur, nihilque fæcum aut phlegmatis in fundo remaneat.
* Some authorities, including Rachel Hajar, suggest that the ultimate etymon was the Arabic term اَلْغَوْل (al-ḡawl, “bad effect, evil result of headache”) (as used in Qur’an verse 37:47, but this word is rather poetical and could for topical reasons not have been picked up from Arabic by Medieval writers, and aside from that the relation to stibium is well documented.
Senses: topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
organic-chemistry
physical-sciences
glosses: Any of a class of organic compounds (such as ethanol) containing a hydroxyl functional group (-OH).
examples: text: Our stomachs and livers have an enzyme known as alcohol dehydrogenase that breaks down ethanol to make it less toxic for our bodies, said Atlanta gastroenterologist Dr. Preston Stewart.
ref: 2012 September 26, Jacque Wilson, “Experts: Alcohol enemas ‘extremely dangerous’”, in CNN:
topics: medicine
pharmacology
sciences
glosses: Ethanol.
examples: text: Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins.
ref: 2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, archived from the original on 24 Aug 2019, page 76:
glosses: Beverages containing ethanol, collectively.
glosses: Any very fine powder.
Synonyms: word: alcohol
Hypernyms: word: organic compound
word: chemical compound
Hyponyms: word: fatty alcohol
word: sugar alcohol
word: polyol
word: polyhydric alcohol
word: polyalcohol
word: methanol
word: ethanol
word: propanol
word: butanol
Derived terms: absolute alcohol
acetic alcohol
alcohol abuse
alcohol addiction
alcoholaemia
alcoholase
alcoholate
alcohol burner
alcohol by volume
alcohol dehydrogenase
alcohol enema
alcohol flush reaction
alcohol-free
alcoholic
alcoholicity
alcoholiday
alcohol intoxication
alcoholism
alcoholization
alcoholize
alcoholless
alcoholly
alcoholmeter
alcohologist
alcohology
alcohololysis
alcoholomania
alcoholometer
alcoholometric
alcoholometry
alcoholophilia
alcohol poisoning
alcohol-related dementia
alcohol use disorder
alcohol withdrawal syndrome
alcoholy
alcoholysis
alcolock
alcopop
alcotest
alcotourism
alkoxyalcohol
alkyl
allyl alcohol
amino alcohol
amyl alcohol
antialcohol
azidoalcohol
benzyl alcohol
bioalcohol
butyl alcohol
cetyl alcohol
chloral
coniferyl alcohol
denatured alcohol
deoxy sugar alcohol
diesohol
epoxyalcohol
ethyl alcohol
fatty alcohol
fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
fetal alcohol syndrome
fluoroalcohol
foetal alcohol syndrome
fusel alcohol
gasahol
gasohol
grain alcohol
haloalcohol
hold one's alcohol
-holic
-holism
isoamyl alcohol
isopropyl alcohol
ketoalcohol
lauryl alcohol
low-alcohol
methal
methyl alcohol
neopentyl alcohol
neutral alcohol
no-alcohol
nonalcohol
nonalcoholic
non-alcoholic
-ol
perillyl alcohol
phenethyl alcohol
polyalcohol
polyhydric alcohol
polyvinyl alcohol
polyvinylalcohol
prealcohol
primary alcohol
propargyl alcohol
propyl alcohol
rubbing alcohol
secondary alcohol
sugar alcohol
sulfur alcohol
sulphur alcohol
tertiary alcohol
thioalcohol
unit of alcohol
vinous alcohol
wood alcohol
wood-alcohol
Related terms: word: alcoholic beverage