in modern use, in reference to a plastic or synthetic resin, 1939, short for polyvinyl; not in widespread use until late 1950s. Slang meaning "phonograph record" (1976) replaced wax, n. in that sense. In chemistry, vinyl was used from 1851 as the name of a univalent radical derived from ethylene, from Latin vinum "wine" (see wine, n.), because ethyl alcohol is the ordinary alcohol present in wine.