benzene

Meaning

Noun

• An aromatic hydrocarbon of formula C₆H₆ whose structure consists of a ring of alternate single and double bonds.
• Sometimes used in place of the phenyl group.

Origin

• A technical term in chemistry, adopted in English in 1835 as benzine (benzene from 1872), from German Benzin, which was coined in 1833 by Eilhardt Mitscherlich based on Benzoesäure, plus the technical ending -ene (German -in) denoting hydrocarbons. The adjective benzoic is in turn from benzoin, originally a term for a balsamic resin from Middle French benjoin, from Spanish benjuí, Portuguese beijoim, Italian benzoi, from Arabic لُبَان جَاوِيّ ("Javanese frankincense"). The initial lu was probably lost because it was taken as the definite article in Romance. Compare oliban.