{{Short description|Viscous water-insoluble liquid}} {{pp-move}} {{pp-semi-indef}} {{About|the chemical substance|crude oil|Petroleum|other uses|Oil (disambiguation)}} [[File:Italian olive oil 2007.jpg|thumb|upright|A bottle of olive oil used in food]]
'''Oil''' is a liquid with varying degrees of viscosity depending on temperature. Oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic and lipophilic. Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated lipids that are liquid at room temperature.
== Plant and animal oils == Diverse oils are produced by plants, animals, and other organisms.<ref name=alberts>Alberts, Bruce; Johnson, Alexander; Lewis, Julian; Raff, Martin; Roberts, Keith; Walter, Peter. ''Molecular Biology of the Cell''. New York: Garland Science, 2002, pp. 62, 118–119.</ref> ''Lipid'' is the scientific term for the fats, steroids, and phospholipids that are soluble in organic solvents.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lipids |url=https://old.goldbook.iupac.org/html/L/L03571.html |website=IUPAC Gold Book}}</ref> Another large class of plant oils are tall oils, mixtures of fats and rosins that are extracted from trees and used mainly as solvent and fuel.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Norlin |first1=Lars-Hugo |last2=By Staff |first2=Updated |title=Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry |chapter=Tall Oil |date=2026 |pages=1–14 |doi=10.1002/14356007.a26_057.pub2 |isbn=978-3-527-30385-4 }}</ref> In addition to modern animal-derived oils (e.g. tallow), whale oil was once widely used.
From the perspective of commercial applications, fats are broadly signficant because they are precursors to soaps and are a component of many foods, e.g. cooking oils.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Alfred |last2=Matthäus |first2=Bertrand |last3=Fiebig |first3=Hans-Jochen |title=Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry |chapter=Fats and Fatty Oils |date=2015 |pages=1–84 |doi=10.1002/14356007.a10_173.pub2 |isbn=978-3-527-30673-2 }}</ref> Drying oils, consisting of highly unsaturated fats, are key components of some paints and laquers.
==Petroleum-derived oils == Several sources of "petroleum-derived" oils exist including distillates from crude oil and shale oil.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Weiss |first1=Hans-Jürgen |last2=Lisboa |first2=Antonio Carlos Luz |title=Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry |chapter=Oil Shale |date=2010 |doi=10.1002/14356007.a18_101.pub2 |isbn=978-3-527-30385-4 }}</ref> Major uses of these oils include fuels (e.g. heating oil) and hydraulic fluids.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Möller |first1=Uwe Jens |last2=Young |first2=David G. |title=Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry |chapter=Hydraulic Fluids |date=2003 |doi=10.1002/14356007.a13_165.pub2 |isbn=3-527-30673-0 }}</ref>
Additionally, synthetic oils, mainly used as lubricants are produced by chemical processing of petrochemicals.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reinicke |first1=Kurt M. |last2=Hueni |first2=Greg |last3=Liermann |first3=Norbert |last4=Oppelt |first4=Joachim |last5=Reichetseder |first5=Peter |last6=Unverhaun |first6=Wolfram |title=Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry |chapter=Oil and Gas, 1. Introduction |date=2014 |pages=1–14 |doi=10.1002/14356007.a23_117.pub2 |isbn=978-3-527-30673-2 }}</ref>
Petroleum-based oils originate from ancient fossilized organic materials, such as zooplankton and algae, which geochemical processes convert into oil.<ref> {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/j.orggeochem.2005.09.001 |title=Organic geochemistry – A retrospective of its first 70 years |year=2006|last1=Kvenvolden|first1=Keith A.|journal=Organic Geochemistry |volume=37|issue=1 |page=1|bibcode=2006OrGeo..37....1K |s2cid=95305299 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1000677 }}</ref>
== Etymology and history== {{efn|The Old English word was: ele; <ref>{{cite book|last1=Bosworth|first1=Joseph|author-link=Joseph Bosworth (scholar)|editor1=Thomas Northcote Toller|editor1-link=Thomas Northcote Toller|editor2=Christ Sean|editor3=Ondřej Tichy|date=2014|url=https://bosworthtoller.com/|chapter-url=https://bosworthtoller.com/9200|location=Prague|publisher=Faculty of Arts, Charles University|chapter=ELE|title=Bosworth Toller's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary online}}</ref> "Eft on fyrste, æfter Cristes upstige to heofonum, rixode sum wælhreow casere on Romana ríce, æfter Nerone, se wæs Domicianus gehaten, cristenra manna ehtere: se het afyllan ane cyfe mid weallendum ele," (in: IV of Homilies written by Ælfric)}} First usage in a form resembling the modern is <ref name=OED>{{cite web|author=Oxford English Dictionary|url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/oil_n1?tl=true&tab=meaning_and_use|title=oil noun<sup>1</sup> Meaning & use|publisher=Oxford University Press|quote=in W. Heuser, Kildare-Gedichte (1904) }}</ref> in Anglo-Norman <ref NAME=OEDE>{{cite web|author=Oxford English Dictionary|url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/oil_n1?tl=true&tab=etymology|title=oil noun <sup>1</sup> Etymology|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/OED/9508264200|quote=Anglo-Norman oile < classical Latin }}</ref> before (''a'')1300 in Land of Cokaygne <ref name=OED/>{{efn| ---- ---- :Þer beþ riuers..Of oile, melk, honi and wine.<ref name=OED/> ---- :In Cokaigne is met and drink,<ref name=CnhC>{{cite web|url=https://celt.ucc.ie/published/E300000-001/text001.html|title=Anglo-Irish poems of the Middle Ages: The Kildare Poems (Author: [unknown]) Poem 1 The Land of Cokaygne {MS fol 3r} |publisher=Corpus of Electronic Texts Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh}}</ref> :With-vte care, how and swink.<ref name=CnhC/> :... :Ther beth riuers gret and fine <ref name=CnhC/> :Of oile, melk, honi and wine.<ref name=CnhC/> ---- ---- "riuers": "The four rivers of Paradise" of which oil is Geon because of the Apocalypse of St Paul<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wpwt.soton.ac.uk/trans/cockaygn/cocnn.htm#45-6|author=Bella Millett|title=The Land of Cockaygne London MS Harley 913, ff. 3r-6v, Notes 45-46|publisher=British Library: University of Southampton Wessex Parallel WebTexts|quote=Apocalypse of St Paul; see M. R. James, trans., The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924), p. 538)}} {{web archive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240809175824/http://wpwt.soton.ac.uk/trans/cockaygn/cocnn.htm#45-6|date=9 August 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://wpwt.soton.ac.uk/trans/cockaygn/coctrans.htm|title=The Land of Cockaygne London MS Harley 913, ff. 3r-6v, Translation|editor=Bella Millett|publisher=British Library: University of Southampton Wessex Parallel WebTexts}} {{web archive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250614134251/http://wpwt.soton.ac.uk/trans/cockaygn/coctrans.htm|date=14 June 2025}}</ref> ---- }} in Middle English from Old French ''oile'' <ref NAME=OEDE/> as a consequence of influence of Edward the Confessor (1042–1066)<ref name=CLA2006>{{cite book|author=C. L. Allen|editor1=Keith Brown|editor2=Sarah Ogilvie|date=2006|publication-date=6 April 2010|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Concise_Encyclopedia_of_Languages_of_the/F2SRqDzB50wC?hl=en&gbpv=0|chapter=English, Old English|chapter-url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Concise_Encyclopedia_of_Languages_of_the/F2SRqDzB50wC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=1066+invasion+caused+change+Old+English+to+Anglo-Norman&pg=PA358&printsec=frontcover|title=Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World|page=358: Effects of Language Contact (last paragraph)|location=Australian National University, Canberra|ISBN=9780080877754|publisher=Elsevier Science}}</ref> and after the killing of King Harold on 14 October 1066 <ref>{{cite book|author1=Pauline Stafford|author2=John Hudson|display-authors=et al.|date=2020|editor1=Philip Waller|editor2=Robert Peberdy|chapter-url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Dictionary_of_British_and_Irish_Histor/Pt4IEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=1066+invasion+caused+change+Old+English+to+Anglo-Norman&pg=PA448&printsec=frontcover|chapter=NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Dictionary_of_British_and_Irish_Histor/Pt4IEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0|title=A Dictionary of British and Irish History|page=447|ISBN=9781119698425}}</ref> after the 1066 invasion from Normandy,<ref name=CLA2006/> the earliest extant source a translation from Latin during the 12th or 13th century (Marbode Lapidaire)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Studer M.A.D. Lit.|first=Paul|date=1924|editor1=Joan Evans|editor2=P.S.|title=Anglo-Norman lapidaries|url=https://archive.org/details/AngloNormanLapidaries/studer-p-anglo-1924-RTL009603-LowRes/page/n7/mode/2up|location=University of Oxford: Paris|publisher=EDOUARD CHAMPION fr: archive.org|publication-date=11 January 2011 |page=XIII, XVI, XIX: Introduction; 1, 2: THE MANUSCRIPTS; 21, 22: 1 THE FIRST FRENCH VERSION OF MARBODE'S LAPIDARY|quote=No Western mineralogical lapidaries are known to have been written after the seventh century, when Isodore of Seville compiled his ''Etymologiae'', until Marbode, bishop of Rennes, between 1067 and 1101, wrote his Latin poem ''de lapidibus''" "six Old French verse translations made directly from the text are known : that called the First French Version" "the discovery of strong evidence that the version called by Pannier ''Le Premier lapidaire francaise'', to which we refer as ''The First French Version of Marbode's Lapidary'', was written before 1150. – of the earlier period there survive scarcely any genuine continental lapidaries in the vernacular except the two translations of Marbode known as the ''Lapidaire de Modene'' and the ''Lapidaire de Berne''" "A. M.S. Paris Bibl. Nat. lat. 14470 – is the oldest MS containing the First French Version – The writing belongs to the latter half of the twelfth century or the beginning of the thirteenth" " Meyer showed conclusively MS. A. was not written in England – our investigations have brought to light strong evidence that it became the basis of an Anglo-Norman prose version about 1150 – The language is that which in the first half of the twelfth century served as a common literary medium in the Norman dominions on both sides of the Channel – uile (usually ''oile'' 265-66|via= anglo-norman.net/entry/oile_1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Prifysgol Aberystwyth|chapter=Results (3)|chapter-url=https://www.anglo-norman.net/entry/oile_1|title=The Anglo-Norman Dictionary|edition=second|location=Department of Modern Languages Hugh Owen Building|publisher=Prifysgol Aberystwyth: anglo-norman.net}}</ref> from Classical Latin ''oleum'',<ref NAME=OEDE/><ref name=OEtymD>{{OEtymD|oil}}</ref> (the earliest extant source being: Plautus, Poenulus)<ref name=LS>{{L&S|oleum|ref}}</ref> {{efn|Latin language sources <ref name=LS/> chronology: :BCE / BC: ::Plautus, Poenulus <ref name=LS/> (c. 200)<ref>{{cite web|author=John Starks Jnr|url=https://bingweb.binghamton.edu/~jstarks/punypunic.html|title=THE PUNY PUNIC (Poenulus) BY Plautus Dramatis Personae)|publisher=binghamton.edu|quote=The time is more or less the present (i.e. circa 200 B.C.)}}</ref> ::Cato the Elder,<ref name=LS/> (234–149) (Tusculum)<ref name=WH-HBA>{{cite book|url=https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL283/1934/volume.xml|title=CATO AND VARRO ON AGRICULTURE|translator1=W. D. Hooper|translator2= Harrison Boyd Ash|series=Loeb Classical Library 283|location=Cambridge, MA|publisher=Harvard University Press|date=1934}}</ref> De Agri Cultura <ref name=LS/> (c. 160)<ref>{{cite book|author=M. Stephen Spurr|editor1=Antony Spawforth |editor2=Esther Eidinow |editor3=Simon Hornblower|chapter-url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Oxford_Companion_to_Classical_Civili/AIgdBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Cato+the+Elder,+De+Agri+Cultura++160BC&pg=PA156&printsec=frontcover|chapter=Appendix: Cato the Elder: De agricultura|title=Oxford Companion to CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION|page=156|date=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|ISBN=9780198706779}}</ref> ::Lex Thoria <ref name=LS/> (111)<ref>{{cite web|author=UGA|url=https://droitromain.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/Leges/thoria.gr.html|title=LEX THORIA AGRARIA ( 111 BC)|publisher=Université Grenoble Alpes|via=www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Dictionary_of_Greek_and_Roman_Antiquit/nfUrAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Lex+Thoria&pg=PA700&printsec=frontcover "the date of the Lex Thoria is usually fixed by Rudorff as the year of the city 643 or B.C. 111"}}</ref> ::Varro,<ref name=LS/> (116–27) (Reate)<ref name=WH-HBA/> De Re Rustica <ref name=LS/> ::Cicero <ref name=LS/> (106, Arpinum)<ref>{{cite web|author1= John Ferguson|display-authors=et al.|date=4 December 2025|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cicero|title=Governors Cicero|work=Britannica}}</ref> ::Virgil,<ref name=LS/> (October 15, 70, Andes)<ref>{{cite book|author=Michael Simpson|date=1998|chapter-url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CEJ1631006748&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs&userGroupName=anon%7E7a7828dd&aty=open-web-entry|title=Encyclopedia of World Biography|chapter=Virgil|publisher=Gale|series=Gale Academic OneFile|via=poets.org/poet/virgil}}</ref> Aeneid <ref name=LS/> ::Horace,<ref name=LS/> (December 8, 65)<ref>{{cite book|author=Robin Nisbet|editor=Stephen Harrison|title=The Cambridge Companion to Horace: 1 – Horace: life and chronology from Part 1: – Orientations|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-horace/horace-life-and-chronology/CE39F23F8CBA22CA5E4AEE17580311A5|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=28 May 2007|doi=10.1017/CCOL0521830028.002}}</ref> Saturae <ref name=LS/> ::Ovid,<ref name=LS/> (March 20, 43)<ref>{{cite web|author=William L. Carey|url=https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/101/ovidintro.pdf|title=P. OVIDIUS NASO (43 B.C. - A.D. 17)|location=George Mason University|via=www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ovid|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030617140852/https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/101/ovidintro.pdf|archive-date=17 June 2003|url-status=live}}</ref> Tristia <ref name=LS/> :CE / AD: ::Columella,<ref name=LS/> (70 AD <ref>{{cite web|author=Silke Diederich|date=25 February 2016|url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195389661/obo-9780195389661-0203.xml|title=Oxford Biographies Columella|doi= 10.1093/obo/9780195389661-0203|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref>) De Re Rustica <ref name=LS/> ::Pliny the Elder,<ref name=LS/> (23 CE Transpadane Gaul - August 24, 79, Stabiae <ref>{{cite web|author= Jerry Stannard|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pliny-the-Elder|title=Pliny the Elder|work=Britannica}}</ref>) Naturalis Historia <ref name=LS/> ::Juvenal,<ref name=LS/> (AD 80, Aquinum <ref>{{cite book|author=James Sullivan|date=December 16, 2003 |editor=Frank N. Magill|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Ancient_World/7NVFUi7G6TEC?hl=en&gbpv=1 |title=The Ancient World Dictionary of World Biography|page=647|chapter=JUVENAL|publisher=Taylor & Francis|volume=1}}</ref>) Saturae <ref name=LS/>}} which in turn comes from the Greek {{lang|grc|ἔλαιον}} (''elaion''), "olive oil, oil"<ref>{{LSJ|e)/laion|ἔλαιον|ref}}.</ref> and that from {{lang|grc|ἐλαία}} (''elaia''), "olive tree", "olive fruit".<ref>{{LSJ|e)lai/a|ἐλαία|shortref}}.</ref><ref name=OEtymD/> "Olive oil" in Mycenaean Greek (transliteration) is ''e-rai-wo''. <ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ventris|first1=Michael|author1-link=Michael Ventris|last2=Chadwick|first2=John|author2-link=John Chadwick|author3=L. R. Palmer|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27681672|title=Review:MICHAEL VENTRIS and JOHN CHADWICK:Documents in Mycenaean Greek, 300 selected tablets from Knossos, Pylos and Mycenae, with comm. and vocabulary. With a foreword by Alan J.B. Wace. Cambridge Univ. Press 1956. XXXI. 452 S. 26 Abb. 3 Taf. 4<sup>o</sup> 8<sub>4</sub> sh. |journal=Gnomon|volume=29 |number=8|publisher=Verlag C.H.Beck: ITHAKA|via=Palmer: Google Scholar "Olive oil again would appear either as 38-60-42 or more precisely as 38-33-42 (e-rai-wo)" in: scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Olive+oil+38-33-42+%28e-rai-wo%29&btnG= via: Kim Raymoure minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/e/e-ra-wo/}} {{web archive|url=https://archive.today/20260112125644/https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&q=Olive+oil+38-33-42+(e-rai-wo)&btnG=|date=12 January 2026}}</ref>
Oil has been used throughout history as a religious medium. It is often considered a spiritually purifying agent and is used for anointing purposes. As a particular example, holy anointing oil has been an important ritual liquid for Judaism<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chesnutt |first=Randall D. |date=January 2005 |title=Perceptions of Oil in Early Judaism and the Meal Formula in Joseph and Aseneth |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0951820705051955 |journal=Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha |language=en |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=113–132 |doi=10.1177/0951820705051955 |s2cid=161240989 |issn=0951-8207|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and Christianity.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Sahagun |first1=Louis |date=2008-10-11 |title=Armenian priests journey for jars of holy oil |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-oct-11-me-beliefs11-story.html}}</ref> == External links == {{Wiktionary}} *{{Commons category-inline|Oil}} {{Wikiquote}} * [http://www.petroleumonline.com/ Petroleum Online e-Learning resource from IHRDC] == See also == * Emulsifier, a chemical which allows oil and water to mix == Notes == {{notelist}} == References == {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Oils Category:Chemical substances