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naphtha

/ˈnæfθə/ noun

In Latin: naphtha Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about naphtha at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. Any of various volatile flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixtures; used chiefly as solvents.

Origin

From Latin naphtha, from Ancient Greek νάφθα (náphtha, “naphtha”), from Old Persian *naftah, probably borrowed or assimilated from Akkadian 𒉌𒆳𒊏 (napṭu, “naphtha”) . The Greek mediation is reflected in the spelling – ‘ph’ and ‘th’ (from ‘φ’ and ‘θ’).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)