A thick, slippery liquid that does not mix with water, used as fuel, in cooking, or for lubrication.
From Old French "oile," from Latin "oleum" meaning "olive oil," from Greek "elaion" (oil, especially olive oil). Originally it referred mainly to plant oils, especially from olives.
For most of history, "oil" meant olive oil or similar plant oils; only recently did it come to mean the fossil fuels that power our world. The word’s journey mirrors humanity’s shift from farming light (lamps) to digging up ancient sunlight (petroleum).
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