mercaptan
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Related to mercaptan: ethyl mercaptan
mer·cap·tan
(mər-kăp′tăn′)n.
See thiol.
[German, from Danish, from Medieval Latin (corpus) mercurium captāns, (a substance) seizing mercury : mercurium, accusative of mercurius, mercury; see mercury + Latin captāns, present participle of captāre, frequentative of capere, to seize; see capture.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
mercaptan
(mɜːˈkæptæn)n
(Elements & Compounds) another name (not in technical usage) for thiol
[C19: from German, from Medieval Latin mercurium captans, literally: seizing quicksilver]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
mer•cap•tan
(mərˈkæp tæn)n.
any of a class of odiferous sulfur-containing compounds having the type formula RSH, where R represents a radical.
Also called thiol. [< German (1834), shortening of Latin phrase corpus mercurium captāns body capturing quicksilver]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.