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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;-jeffB, post: 4657170, member: 27832&quot;]Because they&#039;re so closely related, they got similar names, back before names were systematic (constructed according to well-specified rules).</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Acetic acid&quot; got its name <i>twice</i> from the same root. <i>Acetic</i> comes from French <i>acétique </i>(vinegar-like), which in turn comes from Latin <i>acetum</i> (vinegar, originally <i>vinum acetum</i>, &quot;sour wine&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>Acid</i> comes from Latin <i>acedus</i> (sour, sharp, tart), which also shows up in the Latin phrase above. So, <i>acetic acid</i> sounds kind of silly and redundant, because that&#039;s exactly what it is.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>Acetone</i> was first prepared in a lab from acetic acid, and got a pseudo-classical name that basically means &quot;daughter (<i>-one</i>) of vinegar (<i>acet-</i>)&quot;. When chemists started discovering other compounds that were similar to acetone, they adopted <i>ketone</i> as the general name for the class. Acetone is the simplest ketone. There are innumerable others, and they&#039;re really important in biochemistry and flavor chemistry.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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