kerosene

See also: kérosène

English

Glass bottles of kerosene near Moscow, Russia.

Alternative forms

• kerosine

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κηρός (kērós, “wax”) +‎ -ene; a name trademarked in 1854.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɛɹəsiːn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

kerosene (countable and uncountable, plural kerosenes)

1. A thin, often colorless or blue or straw-colored petroleum-based fuel, heavier than gasoline/petrol or naptha but lighter than diesel, used primarily as jet fuel but also for heating and lighting in some remote or impoverished areas.

   Synonyms: paraffin (UK); kero (clipping), lamp oil (often synonymous), coal oil (especially Appalachia)

   Hyponyms: (usually hyponymous) jet fuel, avtur

   The kerosene lasted all winter, so the furnace kept us always warm.

   • 2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

     The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. […] It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber. Other liquids produced in the refining process, too unstable or smoky for lamplight, were burned or dumped.

Derived terms

• biokerosene
• kerosene-like
• kerosenelike
• kerosenish
• power kerosene

Descendants

• → Assamese: কেৰাচিন (kerasin)
• → Bengali: কেরোসিন (kerōśin)
• → Farefare: karẽnzĩn
• → Moore: karenzĩ
• → Russian: кероси́н (kerosín)
  • → Armenian: կերոսին (kerosin)
  • → Ingrian: karassi
  • → Kazakh: керосин (kerosin)
  • → Yakut: кыраһыын (kırahıın)
• → Swahili: kerosini

Translations

thin, colorless fuel

• Albanian: vajgur (sq) m
• Arabic: كِيرُوسِين m (kīrūsīn)

  Egyptian Arabic: جاز m (gāz)

• Armenian: կերոսին (hy) (kerosin)
• Assamese: কেৰাচিন (kerasin)
• Azerbaijani: kerosin, ağ neft, lampa nefti, ağ nöyüd
• Basque: keroseno (eu)
• Belarusian: га́за f (háza), керасі́н m (kjerasín)
• Bulgarian: кероси́н m (kerosín)
• Burmese: ရေနံဆီ (my) (renamhci)
• Catalan: querosè m
• Chamicuro: kerosina
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 火水 (yue) (fo² seoi²)

  Mandarin: 煤油 (zh) (méiyóu), 火油 (zh) (huǒyóu), 燈油／灯油 (zh) (dēngyóu)

• Czech: petrolej (cs) m
• Danish: petroleum
• Dhivehi: ކަރާސީނު (karāsīnu)
• Dutch: kerosine (nl) f
• Esperanto: keroseno, petrolo
• Estonian: petrooleum, lambiõli
• Finnish: petroli (fi) (generic), kerosiini (fi) (high quality)
• French: kérosène (fr) m
• Galician: queroseno m
• Georgian: კეროსინი (ḳerosini), ნავთი (navti)
• German: Petroleum (de) n, (aviation) Kerosin (de) n
• Gujarati: ઘાસલેટ (ghāsleṭ)
• Hebrew: קֵרוֹסִין m (kerosin)
• Hindi: मिट्टी का तेल (miṭṭī kā tel), केरोसीन (kerosīn)
• Hungarian: kerozin (hu)
• Hunsrik: Kërosen n
• Icelandic: kerósín
• Indonesian: kerosin (id)
• Irish: ceirisín
• Italian: cherosene (it) m
• Japanese: 灯油 (ja) (とうゆ, tōyu), ケロシン (keroshin)
• Kalmyk: намк (namk)
• Kazakh: керосин (kk) (kerosin)
• Khmer: កាត (km) (kaat)
• Korean: 등유(燈油) (ko) (deung'yu), 케로신 (kerosin)
• Kumyk: нап (nap)
• Kyrgyz: керосин (ky) m (kerosin)
• Lao: ກ້າດ (kāt)
• Latvian: petroleja f
• Lithuanian: žibalas m
• Malay: minyak tanah
• Malayalam: മണ്ണെണ്ണ (ml) (maṇṇeṇṇa)
• Maori: karahīni
• Mongolian: керосин (mn) (kerosin)
• Navajo: akʼahkǫʼ
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: parafin (no) m

  Nynorsk: parafin m

• Persian: نفت سفید (naft-e sefid), نفت (fa) (naft), نفت چراغ (naft-e čerâğ), کروسن (kerosen)
• Polish: nafta (pl) f
• Portuguese: querosene (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਮਿੱਟੀ ਦਾ ਤੇਲ (miṭṭī dā tel)
• Quechua: kirusini
• Romanian: petrol lampant (ro) n
• Russian: кероси́н (ru) m (kerosín)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: керозин m

  Roman: kerozin (sh) m

• Slovak: petrolej (sk) m
• Slovene: petrolej m
• Spanish: queroseno (es) m, canfín (Costa Rica), keroseno (es) m, kerosene (es) m, kerosén (es) m, kerosín m, kerex m, kerosina f (Latin America)
• Swahili: kerosini (sw)
• Swedish: fotogen (sv) c
• Tagalog: gaas, kerosina
• Tajik: керосин (kerosin)
• Thai: น้ำมันก๊าด (nám-man-gáat), ก๊าด (th) (gáat)
• Turkish: kerosen (tr)
• Turkmen: kerosin
• Ukrainian: гас m (has), кероси́н (uk) m (kerosýn)
• Uzbek: kerosin (uz)
• Vietnamese: dầu hỏa (vi), dầu lửa (vi), kêrôsin
• Yoruba: barafín, kẹrosíìnì
• Zulu: uphalafini

Portuguese

Noun

kerosene m (plural kerosenes)

1. Obsolete spelling of querosene.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /keɾoˈsene/ [ke.ɾoˈse.ne]
• Rhymes: -ene
• Syllabification: ke‧ro‧se‧ne

Noun

kerosene m (plural kerosenes)

1. kerosene

Further reading

• “kerosene”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), 23rd edition, Royal Spanish Academy, 2014 October 16