"mercaptan" meaning in English

See mercaptan in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /məˈkapt(ə)n/ [UK] Forms: mercaptans [plural]
Etymology: Borrowed from German Mercaptan, from Danish mercaptan; coined by organic chemist William Christopher Zeise in 1832 from mer(curius) (“mercury”) + captan(s) (“capturing”), because the thiolate group bonds very strongly with mercury compounds. Etymology templates: {{glossary|loanword|Borrowed}} Borrowed, {{bor|en|de|Mercaptan|||g=|g2=|g3=|id=|lit=|nocat=|pos=|sc=|sort=|tr=|ts=}} German Mercaptan, {{bor+|en|de|Mercaptan}} Borrowed from German Mercaptan, {{der|en|da|mercaptan}} Danish mercaptan, {{coin|da|William Christopher Zeise|in=1832|nocap=1|nocat=1|occ=organic chemist}} coined by organic chemist William Christopher Zeise in 1832, {{af|la|mercurius|captans|alt1=mer(curius)|alt2=captan(s)|nocat=1|t1=mercury|t2=capturing}} mer(curius) (“mercury”) + captan(s) (“capturing”) Head templates: {{en-noun}} mercaptan (plural mercaptans)
  1. (chemistry) Any of a class of organic compounds of sulphur, ( R₁.S.R₂ ); they tend to be foul-smelling. When R₂ is a hydrogen atom, they are termed thiols or thioalcohols. Categories (topical): Chemistry, Mercury (element), Sulfur Derived forms: ethyl mercaptan, methyl mercaptan, phenyl mercaptan Related terms: mercapto Translations (sulphuric compound): sulfid [masculine] (Czech), sirník [masculine, obsolete] (Czech), mercaptan [masculine] (French), Mercaptan [neuter] (German), mercaptano [masculine] (Italian), mercaptano [masculine] (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-mercaptan-en-noun-zb-elgKw Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for mercaptan meaning in English (4.3kB)

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          "ref": "2022 April 25, AlfredCamera, “Spotting Gas Leak Symptoms and Staying Safe”, in Home Security Expert",
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      "sense": "sulphuric compound",
      "tags": [
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      "tags": [
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      "word": "mercaptano"
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  "word": "mercaptan"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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