'acrylonitrile' originates from the combination of 'acrylic' and 'nitrile', where 'acrylic' refers to a type of plastic and 'nitrile' refers to a group of organic compounds containing a cyano group.

'acrylonitrile' was coined in the early 20th century as the chemical industry expanded and new synthetic materials were developed.

Initially, it was simply a chemical compound, but over time it became associated with its industrial applications in plastics and fibers.