What does "perchloroethylene" mean?

Synonym of tetrachloroethylene, a nonflammable, non-polar solvent with low toxicity, especially in the dry-cleaning trade

How do you pronounce "perchloroethylene"?

Pronounced //pəˌklɔːɹəʊˈɛθɪliːn//.

Common synonyms include: pce, pce, perc, tetrachloroethene, tetrachloroethene, tetrachloroethylene.

//pəˌklɔːɹəʊˈɛθɪliːn// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Synonym of tetrachloroethylene, a nonflammable, non-polar solvent with low toxicity, especially in the dry-cleaning trade countable, uncountable

From per- + chloro- + ethylene.

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