-ane

1.
suffix var. of -AN; usu. with distinction of sense (germane; humane; urbane) but sometimes with no corresponding form in -an (mundane).
2.
suffix Chem. forming names of paraffins and other saturated hydrocarbons (methane; propane).
Etymology: after -ene, -ine, etc.

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\\ˌān\ noun suffix (-s)

Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary -an, -ane, alteration of -ene, -ine, & -one

1. : -an III 1

urethane

2. : saturated or completely hydrogenated carbon compound — in names of hydrocarbons and some parent heterocyclic compounds

methane

cholestane

dioxane

— distinguished from -ene, -yne

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Chem.

a suffix used in names of hydrocarbons of the methane or paraffin series: propane.

[ < L -anus -AN]

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ane «ayn», adjective, pronoun.

Scottish. one.

-ane,

suffix forming nouns. Chemistry. a saturated carbon of the methane series, such as in butane or propane.

╂[imitative formation patterned on -ene, -ine, etc.]

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I

suffix variant spelling of -an, usually with a distinction of sense (such as humane compared with human) but sometimes with no corresponding form in -an (such as mundane)

II

suffix Chemistry forming names of saturated hydrocarbons

methane | propane

Origin:

on the pattern of words such as -ene, -ine

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-ane, suffix

1. Occas. Eng. ad. L. -ānus, perh. orig. a. Fr. -ain; used, chiefly for sake of distinction, in words that have a parallel form in -an, as germane, humane, urbane, also in mundane.

2. Chemical formative. † a. Arbitrary ending proposed by Davy for names of monochlorides, now obsolete. (See Watts Dict. Chem. IV. 121.)

b. Org. Chem. In the systematic nomenclature proposed by Hofmann 1866, the formative of the names of the saturated hydrocarbons of composition C_nH_{2n + 2}, also called paraffines; as Methane CH₄ (formerly Methyl hydride), Ethane C₂H₆, Propane C₃H₈, Butane or Quartane C₄H₁₀, Pentane C₅H₁₂, Hexane C₆H₁₄, etc. [The formation is purely imitative; the Greek feminine patronymic endings -ene, -ine, -one, (-ήνη, -ίνη, -ώνη) were already in partial use in naming hydrocarbon derivatives. Hofmann proposed the adoption of the entire vowel series -ane, -ene, -ine, -one, -une, and the strict application of these to hydrocarbons of the types C_nH_2n+2, C_nH_2n, C_nH_2n-2, C_nH_2n-4, C_nH_2n-6, or their analogues, respectively. So far as concerns the first three members this has been generally adopted.]