The spelling of the term "vinyl alcohol" can be explained using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). In IPA, "vinyl" is represented as /ˈvaɪnəl/, with the stress on the first syllable, and the "i" pronounced as a long "i" sound. "Alcohol" is spelled as /ˈælkəhɒl/, with the stress on the second syllable, and the "a" pronounced as a short "a" sound. Thus, the correct pronunciation of "vinyl alcohol" is /ˈvaɪnəl ˈælkəhɒl/.
The word "vinyl alcohol" is derived from its chemical structure and composition.
The term "vinyl" is derived from the Latin word "vinum", meaning wine. It was first used in the early 19th century to refer to a group of compounds that had similar chemical properties to ethylene, which is produced during the fermentation of wine. The name "vinyl" was later used more specifically to refer to the unsaturated hydrocarbon group, -CH=CH2.
The word "alcohol" comes from the Arabic term "al-kuḥl", meaning powdered antimony, which was used in medieval medicine and alchemy. It later came to be used to refer to any organic compound containing a hydroxyl (-OH) functional group.