molecular

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin mōlēs

Proto-Indo-European *-lós

Proto-Indo-European *-elós

Proto-Italic *-elos

Proto-Italic *-kelos

New Latin -cula

New Latin moleculalbor.

French moléculebor.

English molecule

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin -ārisbor.

English -ar

English molecular

From molecule + -ar.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /məˈlɛk.jʊ.lə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /məˈlɛk.jə.ləɹ/, /məˈlɛk.ju.ləɹ/
• (North India) IPA^(key): /mɔːˈlɪk.jʊ.lə(r)/, /ˈmɔː.lɪk.ˈjuː.lə(r)/
• (South India) IPA^(key): /ˈmɔː.lɪk.jʊ.lə(r)/, /ˈmɔː.lɪk.ˈjuː.lə(r)/

Adjective

molecular (not comparable)

1. (chemistry) Relating to, or consisting of, or produced by molecules.
   • 2012 March-April, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 19 February 2013, page 106:

     Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.

2. (chemistry) (of an element) Combined with itself and with no other element; elemental.
3. Relating to a simple or basic structure or organization.
4. (food) Relating to molecular gastronomy.

   molecular dishes

Derived terms

• bimolecular
• biomolecular
• clinicomolecular
• cytomolecular
• dimolecular
• equimolecular
• extramolecular
• gram-molecular weight
• heteromolecular
• histomolecular
• homomolecular
• immunomolecular
• intermolecular
• intramolecular
• macromolecular
• micromolecular
• molecular assembler
• molecular beam epitaxy
• molecular biologist
• molecular biology
• molecular clock
• molecular cloud
• molecular compound
• molecular core
• molecular dipole
• molecular drive
• molecular dynamics
• molecular engineering
• molecular entity
• molecular formula
• molecular genetics
• molecularity
• molecularization
• molecularize
• molecular knife
• molecularly
• molecular mass
• molecular mechanics
• molecular medicine
• molecular modeling
• molecular orbital
• molecular orbital theory
• molecular oxygen
• molecular pathology
• molecular sieve
• molecular volume
• molecular weight
• molecular-weight
• moletronics
• monomolecular
• morphomolecular
• multimolecular
• nanomolecular
• neuromolecular
• nonmolecular
• orthomolecular
• pathomolecular
• polymolecular
• premolecular
• pseudomolecular
• quadrimolecular
• quasimolecular
• seromolecular
• submolecular
• supermolecular
• supramolecular
• termolecular
• tetramolecular
• thermomolecular
• trimolecular
• turbomolecular
• ultramolecular
• unimolecular

Translations

relating to molecules

• Arabic: جُزَيْئِيّ (juzayʔiyy)
• Armenian: մոլեկուլային (hy) (molekulayin)
• Belarusian: малекуля́рны (maljekuljárny)
• Bulgarian: молекуля́рен (molekuljáren), молеку́лен (molekúlen)
• Catalan: molecular (ca)
• Czech: molekulární (cs)
• Danish: molekylær (da)
• Esperanto: molekula
• Finnish: molekulaarinen (fi)
• French: moléculaire (fr)
• Galician: molecular (gl)
• Georgian: მოლეკულური (moleḳuluri)
• German: molekular (de)
• Hindi: आणविक (hi) (āṇvik)
• Hungarian: molekuláris (hu)
• Ido: molekulala (io)
• Indonesian: molekuler (id)
• Irish: móilíneach
• Italian: molecolare (it)
• Kazakh: молекулалық (molekulalyq)
• Latvian: molekulārs
• Malay: molekul (ms)
• Manx: co-vreneenagh
• Norman: molétchulaithe
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: molekylær

  Nynorsk: molekylær

• Persian: مولکولی (fa) (molekuli)
• Polish: cząsteczkowy (pl), molekularny (pl)
• Portuguese: molecular (pt)
• Romanian: molecular (ro)
• Russian: молекуля́рный (ru) (molekuljárnyj)
• Spanish: molecular (es)
• Swedish: molekylär (sv)
• Tagalog: mulatlin
• Turkish: moleküler (tr)
• Ukrainian: молекуля́рний (molekuljárnyj)
• Welsh: moleciwlaidd (cy)

Noun

molecular (plural moleculars)

1. (chemistry) Any compound having a specified (range of) molecular weight(s)

Catalan

Etymology

From molècula +‎ -ar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central) [mu.lə.kuˈlar]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [mo.lə.kuˈla]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [mo.le.kuˈlaɾ]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [mo.le.kuˈlar]

Adjective

molecular m or f (masculine and feminine plural moleculars)

1. molecular

Further reading

• “molecular”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “molecular”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “molecular” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “molecular”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Galician

Etymology

From molécula +‎ -ar.

Adjective

molecular m or f (plural moleculares)

1. molecular

Further reading

• “molecular”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026

Interlingua

Adjective

molecular (not comparable)

1. molecular

Portuguese

Etymology

From molécula +‎ -ar.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /mo.le.kuˈlaʁ/ [mo.le.kuˈlah]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /mo.le.kuˈlaʁ/ [mo.le.kuˈlah]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /mo.le.kuˈlaɾ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /mo.le.kuˈlaʁ/ [mo.le.kuˈlaχ]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /mo.le.kuˈlaɻ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mu.lɛ.kuˈlaɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mu.lɛ.kuˈlaɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /mu.lɛ.kuˈla.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: mo‧le‧cu‧lar

Adjective

molecular m or f (plural moleculares)

1. (chemistry) molecular (relating to molecules)

Further reading

• “molecular”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “molecular”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French moléculaire. By surface analysis, moleculă +‎ -ar.

Adjective

molecular m or n (feminine singular moleculară, masculine plural moleculari, feminine/neuter plural moleculare)

1. molecular

Declension

Declension of molecular

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	molecular		moleculară	moleculari	moleculare
	definite	molecularul		moleculara	molecularii	molecularele
genitive- dative	indefinite	molecular		moleculare	moleculari	moleculare
	definite	molecularului		molecularei	molecularilor	molecularelor

Spanish

Etymology

From molécula + -ar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /molekuˈlaɾ/ [mo.le.kuˈlaɾ]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: mo‧le‧cu‧lar

Adjective

molecular m or f (masculine and feminine plural moleculares)

1. molecular
   • 2022 June 3, Sandee LaMotte, “El efecto 'Benjamin Button': científicos logran revertir el envejecimiento en ratones. El objetivo es hacer lo mismo con los humanos”, in CNN en Español‎^[2]:

     En el laboratorio del biólogo molecular David Sinclair en la Escuela de Medicina de Harvard, los ratones viejos están volviéndose jóvenes nuevamente.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• biología molecular
• fórmula molecular (“molecular formula”)
• masa molecular
• molecularmente
• peso molecular
• reloj molecular

Further reading

• “molecular”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025