Carbonyl
/ˈkɑːr.bə.nəl/noun
A chemical group consisting of a carbon atom double-bonded to an oxygen atom, written C=O.
Did you know?Carbonyl groups absorb infrared radiation so characteristically that chemists often use them as molecular fingerprints to identify substances.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ker-
“To cut or split; a proposed ancestral root connected with the idea of coal or charred material.”
Classical Latin
Latin
carbō
“Coal or glowing ember.”
Old French
Old French
charbon
“Coal or charcoal; the source of English charcoal and related forms.”
18th Century
French
carbone
“Carbon, the chemical element named from Latin carbō, coal.”
19th Century
German
Carbonyl
“A chemical term formed from Carbon plus the chemical suffix -yl for a compound or radical.”
Modern English
English
carbonyl
“The C=O functional group, or a compound containing that group.”
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