Recent Examples on the WebAll other monthly payments: £20 phone; £160 groceries; £20 takeaway; £100 petrol; £100 travel; £10 prescriptions.—refinery29.com, 1 May 2024 The décor is all dark reds, petrol blues, and brass tones, lit dimly by hanging black candles and art-nouveau lamps.—Kate Bettes, Travel + Leisure, 25 July 2024 In a similar vein, the decision to remove the fake pipes from its petrol models means that Audi’s EVs will feature a cleaner rear end, free from ICE-mimicking visual trickery.—Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik, Quartz, 17 July 2024 One of the world’s largest oil producers is now importing petrol.—Michael Liebreich, Foreign Affairs, 8 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for petrol
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'petrol.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from French pétrole "petroleum, any of various products distilled from petroleum," going back to Old French petteroile, petrole "mineral oil, petroleum," borrowed from Medieval Latin petroleum — more at petroleum
Note:
The use of the word in English is apparently owed to a cooperative endeavor by the British distilling and oil refining firm Carless, Capel and Leonard and the engineer Frederick Richard Simms, who had purchased the rights to Gottlieb Daimler's gasoline-powered engine. Though an attempt to register petrol as a trademark was unsuccessful, Carless, Capel and Leonard continued to use it as a marketing name. Note that French pétrole (rather than essence de pétrole) is used for distilled petroleum products by Gustave Richard in Les nouveaux moteurs à gaz et à pétrole (Paris, 1892). The now usual French word essence for "gasoline" is shortened from essence de pétrole.
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