Alcohol is Arabic, and the al- on the front is simply "the." The source is al-kuhul, the fine metallic powder — kohl — used to darken the eyelids, from a root meaning "to stain or paint." Like a whole family of English words that came through Arabic learning, the definite article arrived fused to the noun and never came off: algebra, alkali, almanac and admiral all carry the same passenger.
The meaning has drifted spectacularly. English borrowed it in the 1540s still meaning a fine powder produced by sublimation, which is what the Arabic word described. Paracelsus used it for both powders and volatile liquids, and by the 1670s English had it for "the pure spirit of anything" — the essence left after distillation. From there it narrowed to the intoxicating part of strong drink by 1753, originally as a shortening of alcohol of wine, and finally broadened again in 1808 into the chemist's whole class of related compounds. The eyeliner and the whisky are, etymologically, the same word.
alcohol (n.) 1540s (early 15c. as alcofol ), "fine powder produced by sublimation," from Medieval Latin alcohol "powdered ore of antimony," from Arabic al-kuhul "kohl," the fine metallic powder used to darken the eyelids, from kahala "to stain, paint." The al- is the Arabic definite article, "the." Paracelsus (1493-1541) used the word to refer to a fine powder but also a volatile liquid. By 1670s it was being used in English for "any sublimated substance, the pure spirit of anything," including liquids. The sense of "intoxicating ingredient in strong liquor" is attested by 1753, short for alcohol of wine , which then was extended to the intoxicating element in fermented liquors. The formerly preferred terms for the substance were rectified spirits or brandy . In organic chemistry, the word was extended by 1808 to the class of compounds of the same type as this (a 1790 translation of Lavoisier's "Elements of Chemistry" has alkoholic gas for "the combination of alkohol with caloric"). also from 1540s
alcohol came in through Later and wider borrowings, and its spelling follows that family's conventions.
How that family writes these sounds
| a technical noun about maths, chemistry, or the stars | Arabic: al- welded onto the front, article and allalgebra, algorithm, alcohol, almanac |
What gives it away on the page
| al- fused to the front of the noun | Arabic, usually via Spanish or Latin — al is the article, stuck on permanently.alcohol, algebra, algorithm, alkali, almanac, admiral |
Placing it without the spelling
| mathematics, chemistry, the stars | Arabic, through Spanish or Latinalgebra, algorithm, alcohol, almanac |
Later and wider borrowings in the spelling guide · guess another word's family