lethal

Meanings

Adjective

• Of, pertaining to, or causing death; deadly; mortal; fatal.

Noun

• Any weapon that causes death.
• An allele that causes the death of the organism that carries it.
• One of the higher alcohols of the paraffine series obtained from spermaceti as a white crystalline solid.

Origin

• , improperly written lēthālis, from lētum, improperly written as lēthum, from a supposed connection with .
• Abbreviation of “lauric acid ethereal salt”, so called because it occurs in the ethereal salt of lauric acid.