ethylene glycol

noun

"ethylene-glycol" is a 14-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“ethylene glycol” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The organic compound, HO-CH₂-CH₂-OH, a clear, colorless liquid under normal conditions, widely used as a vehicle engine coolant due to its antifreeze properties.

Key facts for ethylene glycol
PropertyValue
Headwordethylene glycol
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “ethylene glycol” sits in English frequency

ethylene glycol falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ethylene glycol is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The organic compound, HO-CH₂-CH₂-OH, a clear, colorless liquid under normal conditions, widely used as a vehicle engine coolant due to its antifreeze properties.".

Zero misspellings are on record for ethylene glycol in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is ethylene glycol, spelled E-T-H-Y-L-E-N-E- -G-L-Y-C-O-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    The organic compound, HO-CH₂-CH₂-OH, a clear, colorless liquid under normal conditions, widely used as a vehicle engine coolant due to its antifreeze properties.

Synonyms

EGethane-1,2-diolmonoethylene glycolMEG

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ethylene glycol"?
"ethylene glycol" is spelled E-T-H-Y-L-E-N-E- -G-L-Y-C-O-L.
What does "ethylene glycol" mean?
As a noun, "ethylene glycol" means: The organic compound, HO-CH₂-CH₂-OH, a clear, colorless liquid under normal conditions, widely used as a vehicle engine coolant due to its antifreeze properties.
What language does "ethylene glycol" come from?
"ethylene glycol" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “ethylene glycol”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is E-T-H-Y-L-E-N-E- -G-L-Y-C-O-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list