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Today it means

vinyl

a type of plastic; records made from it

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Where does the word "vinyl" come from? It comes from Latin vīnum, and was adopted directly into English (1860s).

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Where does the word "vinyl" come from? It comes from Latin vīnum, and was adopted directly into English (1860s).

Vinyl’s story begins in Latin: vīnum meant “wine.” Wine. It reached English by 1860s as vinyl. Chemists named the vinyl group after ethyl alcohol, 'spirit of wine', plus Greek 'hylē', matter; PVC records replaced shellac from the late 1940s. Today, vinyl means a type of plastic; records made from it.

  1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient vīnum "wine", wine.
  2. Stage 2 · English · 1860s vinyl "vinyl plastic; records", chemists named the vinyl group after ethyl alcohol, 'spirit of wine', plus Greek 'hylē', matter; PVC records replaced shellac from the late 1940s.

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