Carburet

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. A substance used to combine with hydrocarbons to produce gas or vapor when reacting with heat
2. A compound formed through the process of reacting carbon with another element, often used in combustion engines
3. To infuse a fuel with carbon to enhance its combustion properties and efficiency

Etymology: The chemist who named this word was not writing about fuel at all. In 1788, the translator James St. John rendered the French "carbure" into English for the new chemical nomenclature devised by de Morveau, Lavoisier and colleagues, and "carburet" was the result. It was built from "carbon" and the older chemical suffix "-uret," which marked a compound of an element with another substance, so a carburet was simply a carbon compound. The verb sense came later and by a different route. Once "carburet" was established as a noun for a carbon combination, people began using it to mean adding carbon to something, especially a gas or liquid fuel, to make it burn more richly. The original noun sense was gradually displaced by "carbide" during the mid-19th century, leaving the verb as the form most people still meet today.