▸noun[mass noun]Chemistrya yellowish crystalline compound, whose molecule contains two benzene rings joined by a methylene group and an oxygen atom, and whose derivatives include brilliant, often fluorescent, dyes such as fluorescein and rhodamines.
Chemical formula: C13H10O.
– ORIGIN late 19th century: from Greekxanthos‘yellow’ + -ene.
EnglishOxford Dictionary of English
