Did the word "alcohol" always mean "spirits"?

odo5435

No, and chemically, it still doesn't. "...An alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxyl functional group (-OH) is bound to a carbon atom." An alcohol (ethanol) is just one of the components of spirits and the word has become, somewhat mistakenly, synonymous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol May 25 12, 8:21 PM

odo5435

Oops, I got it backwards. (Is there any way to edit your comments?) Originally, alcohol was a term for powdered cosmetics! ""Powdered cosmetic" was the earliest sense in English; definition broadened 1670s to "any sublimated substance, the pure spirit of anything," including liquids. Modern sense of "intoxicating ingredient in strong liquor" is first recorded 1753, short for alcohol of wine, which was extended to "the intoxicating element in fermented liquors." In organic chemistry, the word was extended 1850 to the class of compounds of the same type as this." http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=alcohol&allowed_in_frame=0 May 25 12, 9:02 PM