Plural of 'ane,' a hydrocarbon with single bonds between carbon atoms, such as methane or ethane.
From French 'ane,' derived from the Greek 'ane' suffix used in organic chemistry nomenclature to denote saturated hydrocarbons (alkanes).
The '-ane' suffix is chemistry's way of organizing thousands of compounds—once you know it means 'fully saturated,' you can predict properties of molecules you've never seen before!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.