A hydrocarbon gas with four carbon atoms, used in manufacturing plastics, synthetic rubber, and other chemicals; also called butene.
From butyl (from butyric, relating to butter, from Latin butyrum) + -ene (chemistry suffix for unsaturated hydrocarbons). Early organic chemists named compounds after their original sources.
Butylene comes from 'butyric'—the acid that makes rancid butter smell terrible—because early chemists discovered these hydrocarbons by studying fats and oils, so they named them after butter.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.