noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Any of a series of univalent radicals of the general formula CₙH₂ₙ₊₁ derived from aliphatic hydrocarbons. In other words, an alkane minus one hydrogen atom.
2. 2
   any of a series of univalent groups of the general formula CnH2n+1 derived from aliphatic hydrocarbons wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

alkyl groupalkyl radical

Example

More examples

"Methanethiol is an organic sulfur compound containing an alkyl or aryl group and a thiol group."

Etymology

From alc(ohol) + -yl.

Related phrases

alkyl chloridealkyl halidealkyl nitritealkyl phosphategeneral formula

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