Chem. [f. ETH- + -ANE.] The paraffin or saturated hydrocarbon, C2 H6, forming the second member of the series Cn H2n+2; also called Ethyl hydride and di-methyl; a colorless inodorous gas.
1873. Watts, Fownes’ Chem. (ed. 11), 545. We may take the formation of ethane from ethyl iodide. Ibid. (1877), II. 50. Ethane and propane … are given off from it [American petroleum] as gas at ordinary temperatures.
