What does "alkane" mean?

Any acyclic saturated hydrocarbon (methane, ethane, etc.).

What is a synonym for "alkane"?

Common synonyms include: paraffin, alkane series, methane series, methane series, paraffin series.

//ˈæl.keɪn// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Any acyclic saturated hydrocarbon (methane, ethane, etc.).
"The carbon chain of an alkane may be linear or branched, but must not contain loops (cycles); its chemical formula is of the form CₙH₂ₙ₊₂."
2
a series of non-aromatic saturated hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH(2n+2) wordnet

"The carbon chain of an alkane may be linear or branched, but must not contain loops (cycles); its chemical formula is of the form CₙH₂ₙ₊₂."

From German Alkan, formed as alkyl + -ane.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.