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Lethal vs Ethal - What's the difference?

lethal | ethal |

As nouns the difference between lethal and ethal

is that lethal is one of the higher alcohols of the paraffine series obtained from spermaceti as a white crystalline solid while ethal is cetyl alcohol.

As an adjective lethal

is deadly; mortal; fatal.

lethal

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) .

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Deadly; mortal; fatal.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.}}
    Related terms
    * lethality * semilethal

    Etymology 2

    Abbreviation of “lauric acid ethereal salt”, so called because it occurs in the ethereal salt of lauric acid.

    Noun

    (-)
  • (chemistry) One of the higher alcohols of the paraffine series obtained from spermaceti as a white crystalline solid.

    • External links

    * *

    ethal

    English

    Noun

    (-)
  • (chemistry, dated) cetyl alcohol
    • (Webster 1913)