organic compound

Not only are organic compounds essential to living organisms, but the common belief until the 19th century was that only living organisms could produce them, whence the name. When it was shown in the early 1800s that they could also be produced in the laboratory, the old name was kept.

organic compound (plural organic compounds)

1. (organic chemistry) Any compound containing carbon atoms covalently bound to other atoms.

   Meteorites contain a wide range of organic compounds.

By convention they do not include the carbides, carbonates, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide; carbon disulphide is debatable.

• inorganic compound

• volatile organic compound