Meaning

noun the univalent radical CH3- derived from methane

originEtymology tree Proto-Indo-European *médʰu Proto-Hellenic *métʰu Ancient Greek μέθυ (méthu) Proto-Indo-European *swel-der.? Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)der. German -yl German Methylbor. English methyl Borrowed from German Methyl; compare French méthyle. French chemists Jean-Baptiste Dumas and Eugene Peligot, after determining methanol's chemical structure, introduced "methylene" from the Ancient…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0