Butoxy

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A monovalent chemical radical with the formula C4H9O, derived from butanol and found in many organic compounds and esters
2. The four-carbon alkoxy group formed when butanol loses a hydrogen atom, commonly attached to other molecules in chemistry
3. An organic radical consisting of a butyl group bonded to oxygen, used as a substituent in various chemical compounds

Etymology: Butoxy is a chemistry coinage, not an ancient word, and it is built the way most organic chemical names are. Its first part comes from "butane," the four-carbon hydrocarbon, whose name ends in "-ane" from "alkane," and "butane" itself derives from "butyric," the acid first obtained from rancid butter, from Greek "boutyron," meaning butter. The "-oxy" ending comes from "oxygen," the element named by Antoine Lavoisier in 1777 from Greek roots meaning "acid-former," and in chemical naming "-oxy" marks an oxygen atom linking a group to the rest of a molecule. Put together, "butoxy" describes a butyl group (four carbons) attached through an oxygen atom, as in butoxy groups found in solvents such as butyl cellosolve. The term was formed in the 19th or early 20th century, when systematic organic nomenclature was being standardised, so it has no history older than that. The butter connection is the most striking part: a word for a four-carbon chain traces back to the dairy product that first yielded the acid behind it.