A colorless chemical compound derived from coal tar or petroleum; used as a disinfectant, antiseptic, and in manufacturing dyes and other chemicals.
From German 'Kresol,' derived from 'Kreosot' (creosote) with the suffix '-ol' (indicating an alcohol or phenolic compound). The '-ol' suffix marks it as a hydroxyl-containing organic compound.
Cresol was one of the earliest industrial disinfectants and made surgery safer by killing germs—it's why hospitals smelled like Lysol (which contains cresol) for most of the 20th century.
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