Kerosene is a thin oil burned in lamps and jet engines. A kerosene lamp, kerosene heater, refined kerosene.
Jet fuel is essentially this, which surprises people who expect something more exotic. It is British paraffin under another name, and the two words are one of the standard splits between the varieties. It largely replaced whale oil in lamps.
1nounkeroseneA thin oil burned in lamps and engines.
“They lit the kerosene lamp when the power went out.”
kerosene is a fuel.
Also accepted in games: paraffin
Coined in 1854 from Greek keros, wax, plus a chemical ending. It was a trademark before it became the ordinary word.
Ancient Greek
κηρός
English, today
kerosene
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κηρός. From κηρός + -ene; a name trademarked in 1854.An older term for kerosene was Carbon Oil.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA