benzene

Etymology

A technical term in chemistry, adopted in English in 1835 as benzine (benzene from 1872), from German Benzin, which was coined in 1833 by Eilhardt Mitscherlich based on Benzoesäure (“benzoic acid”), plus the technical ending -ene (German -in) denoting hydrocarbons. The adjective benzoic is in turn from benzoin, originally a term for a balsamic resin from Middle French benjoin, from Spanish benjuí, Portuguese beijoim, Italian benzoi, from Arabic لُبَان جَاوِيّ (lubān jāwiyy, “Javanese frankincense”). The initial lu was probably lost because it was taken as the definite article in Romance. Compare oliban.

noun

1. (organic chemistry) An aromatic hydrocarbon of formula C₆H₆ whose structure consists of a ring of alternate single and double bonds.
   Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer. 2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist
2. (organic chemistry, in combination) Sometimes used in place of the phenyl group.