Word.ws English Dictionary

ketene

ketene noun: any of a class of unsaturated ketones, having a general formula R₁R₂C=C=O, that react as if they were inner acid anhydrides.

Noun

ketene (plural ketenes)

  1. any of a class of unsaturated ketones, having a general formula R₁R₂C=C=O, that react as if they were inner acid anhydrides
  2. the parent compound of this class, CH₂=C=O, an unstable, reactive colourless gas

Forms of ketene

pluralketenes

Origin of ketene

From keto- + -ene.

Words formed from ketene

Questions about ketene

What does ketene mean?
Ketene means any of a class of unsaturated ketones, having a general formula R₁R₂C=C=O, that react as if they were inner acid anhydrides.
What part of speech is ketene?
Ketene is a noun.
What is the plural of ketene?
The plural of ketene is ketenes.

Words near ketene in the dictionary

  1. Ketelsens
  2. ketembilla
  3. ketembillas
  4. ketena
  5. ketenas
  6. ketene
  7. ketenes
  8. ketenide
  9. ketenides
  10. ketenimine
  11. ketenimines

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ketene (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “ketene.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ketene. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.