quick-acting herbicide, 1961, from para- (1) + first element in quaternary. So called in reference to its chemical configuration.
Entries linking to paraquat
para- 1
before vowels, par-, word-forming element, originally in Greek-derived words, meaning "alongside, beyond; altered; contrary; irregular, abnormal," from Greek para- from para (prep.) "beside, near; issuing from; against, contrary to," from PIE *prea, from root *per- (1) "forward," hence "toward, near; against." Cognate with Old English for- "off, away." Mostly used in scientific and technical words; not usually regarded as a naturalized formative element in English.
quaternary adj.
early 15c., "consisting of four parts," from Latin quaternarius "of four each, containing four," from quaterni "four each, by fours," from quater "four times," related to quattuor "four" (from PIE root *kwetwer- "four"). Also as a noun, "the number four" (mid-15c.), from Latin quaternarius.
In geological sense, with capital Q-, attested from 1843 in English, proposed 1829 by French geologist Jules Pierre François Stanislas Desnoyers (1800-1887) as name for "the fourth great epoch of geological time," but because it comprises only the age of man (now reckoned as the last 2.6 million years), and the other epochs are reckoned in the tens of millions of years, not all accepted it. Compare Tertiary.