Butane
/ˈbjuːteɪn/noun
A colorless, highly flammable hydrocarbon gas used as fuel and in lighter fluid.
Did you know?Butane was named from butyric acid, which was first found in rancid butter—so this fuel’s name is literally tied to something that once smelled rotten.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
GRK
βούτυρον (boutyron)
“butter”
1800s
Latinized Chemistry
butyrum / butyricum
“butter; related to butyric acid”
1860s
Chemistry
butane
“a hydrocarbon in the paraffin series, named from the but- root”
Modern English
English
butane
“a four-carbon alkane gas and fuel”