"inflammable colorless and odorless gas; marsh gas," 1867, coined from chemical suffix -ane + syllable abstracted from methyl.
Entries linking to methane
-ane
word-forming element in chemical use, indicating a chain of carbon atoms with no double bonds, proposed 1866 by German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann (1818-1892) to go with -ene, -ine (2), -one.
methyl n.
univalent hydrocarbon radical, 1840, from German methyl (1840) or directly from French méthyle, back-formation from French méthylène (see methylene). Ultimately from Greek methy "wine" + hylē "wood."