Butylated

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Treated with a butyl-based antioxidant, such as butylated hydroxytoluene, to prevent spoilage or oxidation in foods and oils
2. Containing or mixed with a butyl compound added to slow down the chemical breakdown caused by exposure to air
3. Preserved by the addition of a butyl derivative that acts as an antioxidant to keep fats and products from going rancid

Etymology: "Butylated" is the past participle of "butylate", which in turn comes from "butyl", a chemical radical named after butter. The Greek "boútūros" ("butter", literally "cow-cheese", from "boûs" meaning cow and "tūrós" meaning cheese) gave English the root "but-", and the chemist's "butyl" added the suffix "-yl" (from Greek "hū́lē", meaning wood or matter, which chemists adopted for the names of chemical radicals). The "butyl" name thus records a substance first found in butter, though the chemistry behind it belongs to the nineteenth century rather than the ancient world. Adding "-ate" to form "butylate" follows the usual chemical pattern for salts and esters, and "butylated" then describes a compound into which a butyl group has been introduced. The term is most familiar today from "butylated hydroxytoluene", a preservative whose name carries the word in its middle.