English

Teflon

Trade name, 1940s.

Formed from tetra- ‘four’ + fluoro- ‘fluorine’

Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres ‘four’

Proto-Hellenic *kʷétwores ‘four’

Ancient Greek τέσσαρες ‘four’

Ancient Greek τέτταρες ‘Attic form of τέσσαρες’

Latin fluō ‘to flow, stream, pour’

Latin fluor ‘flow’

Today it means

name A brand name of polytetrafluoroethylene (“PTFE”) products, latterly applied to other fluoropolymer products.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.