The building blocks of English
Affixes
-ane1
Saturated straight-chain (aliphatic) hydrocarbons.
An invented ending, on the model of Greek noun suffixes.
Early members of the hydrocarbon series are identified using existing common names for related compounds: methane, ethane, and butane; later members are named using number prefixes, based on how many carbon atoms there are in the molecule: pentane, hexane, octane. The general term for a member of the series, of formula CnH2n+2, is alkane (from German Alkohol, alcohol). These forms occur widely in chemical names of compounds: polyurethane, isobutane, 2-methylpentane. For the related adjectival ending, see ‑yl.
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