Other forms: hydrocarbons
A hydrocarbon is a compound of only hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbon fuels, a simple hydrocarbon, hydrocarbon emissions.
Everything from methane to candle wax is one, and the whole oil industry is the business of separating them by size. Burning them cleanly gives water and carbon dioxide, and burning them badly gives everything else.
1nounhydrocarbonA compound of only hydrogen and carbon.
“Petrol is a mixture of hydrocarbons refined from crude oil.”
hydrocarbon is a compound.
French
carbone
English
carbon
English, today
hydrocarbon
From hydro- + carbon. carbon Borrowed from French carbone. French carbone, coined by Antoine Lavoisier, from Latin carbō (“charcoal, coal”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European kerh₃- (“to burn”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA