Glycolic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to or containing glycol, a type of organic compound with multiple hydroxyl groups
2. Of or pertaining to glycol, a sweet-tasting alcohol-like substance used in antifreeze and other products
3. Derived from or associated with glycol, a diol compound commonly employed in industrial and cosmetic applications

Etymology: Glycolic is a chemistry term built in a fairly plain way: it takes "glycol" and adds the adjectival suffix "-ic." The suffix itself has a long lineage, travelling from Proto-Indo-European through Proto-Italic and Latin "-icus," then passing through Old French "-ique" and Middle English "-ik" before settling into modern English "-ic." It is the same ending found in words such as "chemic" or "organic," used to mean "relating to" or "containing" something. The base word, "glycol," is the more revealing part. It is a blend of the Greek "glukus," meaning "sweet," and "alcohol." Glycol is the sweet-tasting alcohol family, and this name reflects that the earliest compounds in the group were noticed for their sweetness. "Alcohol" itself has a surprising route: it passed from Arabic "kuhl," a fine powder used as eye cosmetic, into medieval Latin, where it came to mean any fine powder or distilled essence. So glycolic describes the acid derived from glycol, with its name built layer upon layer from Greek, Arabic and Latin material.