Cannabigerol

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A non-intoxicating chemical compound produced by the cannabis plant that serves as the precursor to several other cannabinoids
2. A naturally occurring cannabinoid found in hemp and marijuana plants that does not produce a psychoactive high
3. The minor phytocannabinoid from the cannabis plant, notable for its lack of intoxicating effects and its role as a biosynthetic precursor

Etymology: Cannabigerol is a chemical name built like a puzzle: it is assembled from pieces that each name a part of the molecule. The first piece, "cannab", comes from "Cannabis", the hemp plant from which the compound was isolated. The "-i-" is a connecting vowel that joins the pieces, so the name reads as "cannabis" plus a link plus "geranyl" plus "-ol". The middle piece, "geranyl", points to the molecule's side chain. It comes from "geranium", the plant genus whose oil was the source of the geraniol that gives the chain its name. The ending "-ol" is the standard chemical suffix for an alcohol, marking that the molecule carries a hydroxyl group. Put together, the name tells a chemist that this is a cannabinoid bearing a geranyl chain and an alcohol group. The word is a systematic chemical coinage rather than an old word with a long history, so its interest lies in how it encodes structure. Each segment is a deliberate label, following the same logic used to name many other compounds.

Synonyms: CBG