CoachAn alcohol has a hydroxyl group bonded to a carbon atom that has only single bonds. The class of an alcohol is primary, secondary or tertiary according to whether the carbon atom bearing the is bonded to one, two or three other carbon atoms. (Methanol, , whose carbon is bonded to none, is counted with the primary alcohols.)
Examples
Example 33.5 (Ethyl ethanoate)
The solvent ethyl ethanoate, , smells of pear drops and nail-varnish remover. Its “acid part”, , comes from ethanoic acid and gives the second word of the name, ethanoate; its “alcohol part”, , comes from ethanol and gives the first word, ethyl. A later chapter shows how an ester is made from its acid and its alcohol.
Example 33.10 (Four names)
is propan-2-ol (a secondary alcohol); 
is butan-2-one; 
is butanoic acid; 
is 3-methylbutanal.