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petroleum

puh-TROH-lee-uhm · noun

LatinEnglish

Origin

English borrowed "petroleum" directly from Medieval Latin petroleum, as a learned borrowing rather than through everyday speech.

Journey

The facts available don't describe a shift in meaning — the word seems to have carried its sense over intact from Medieval Latin into English usage.

Related words

"Petroleum" is a doublet of "petrol" — the two words trace back to the same source but took separate paths into English.

More words

From Latin

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