poisonous, flammable gas, 1852, from ethyl + -ene, probably suggested by methylene.
Entries linking to ethylene
ethyl n.
1838, from German ethyl (Liebig, 1834), from ether + -yl. Ethyl alcohol, under other names, was widely used in medicine by 13c.
-ene
hydrocarbon suffix, from Greek name-forming element -ene. It has no real meaning in itself; in chemistry terminology probably abstracted from methylene (1834). Put in systematic use by Hofmann (1865).