• Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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    2 days ago

    Paracetamol" takes the “para” part, and then a few other random letters that don’t really make sence.

    Because it actually comes from a different chemical name for the same compound: para-acetylaminophenol

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      Whichever version you use, it doesn’t really make sense. The para part, sure. But “cetamol”? I guess you can can smush two of the words together and go from “para-acet” to “paracet”. But, the “amol” ending? It seems to be borrowing the “am” from amino, and the “ol” from the end. But, that’s a weird set of letters to borrow, and weird to not borrow the full “amin” from amino and not borrow the full “enol” from phenol.