organophosphate
Pluralorganophosphates
- 1An ester of phosphoric acid or one of its derivatives, especially a compound used as an insecticide or weed killer.
The lab tested several organophosphates for their effect on aphids.
Doctors treated the worker after he absorbed an organophosphate through his skin.
Note
The name is assembled the way chemists assemble names: organo-, for a carbon-based part, joined to phosphate. Many of these compounds block the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, so the chemistry that kills insects can also harm people. That is why Ian Sample, writing in The Guardian in 2018, could call the novichok nerve agents organophosphate compounds. Before another noun the word works as a modifier: organophosphate compounds, organophosphate poisoning.
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Origin
Formed from the combining form "organo-" and "phosphate."