Go to 'thermo-' entry Go to 'dino-' entry Go to 'chondro-' entry Go to 'aero-' entry Go to '-logy' entry Go to 'thaumato-' entry Go to 'nano-' entry Go to '-sophy' entry Go to 'bucco-' entry Go to '-ism' entry Go to '-lysis' entry Go to 'galacto-' entry Go to '-anthropy' entry Go to 'pneumo-' entry Go to '-ploitation' entry Go to '-lithic' entry Go to '-sepalous' entry Go to 'onco-' entry Go to '-parous' entry Go to 'dermato-' entry Go to 'multi-' entry Go to 'dodeca-' entry Go to '-zoon' entry Go to 'vermi-' entry Go to 'crystallo-' entry Go to 'biblio-' entry Go to 'eco-' entry Go to 'juxta-' entry Go to 'facio-' entry
Affixes: the building blocks of English
Affixes: the building blocks of English
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meth(o)-

The methyl radical, —CH3.

[English methylene, derived from Greek methu, wine, plus hulē, wood, because methyl alcohol was first prepared by the destructive distillation of wood.]

Meth- occurs in a variety of common names for chemical substances, many of them drugs, such as methamphetamine, a methyl derivative of amphetamine, a synthetic drug used illegally as a stimulant; methadone, used in the treatment of morphine and heroin addiction; and methicillin, a semi-synthetic form of penicillin. Examples of drug names on invented stems that include the longer form metho- are methoserpidine, used to lower blood pressure; and methotrexate, a treatment for leukaemia. Methene (see -ene1) is the systematic name for the methylene radical —CH2—; methacrylic acid is used in the manufacture of synthetic resins.

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