## Etymology
From Old French alchimie, from Medieval Latin alchymia, from Arabic al-kīmiyāʾ ('the alchemy'), from al- ('the') + kīmiyāʾ, probably from Ancient Greek khēmeía ('art of transmuting metals').

## AI Etymology
alchemy comes from Old French alchimie, from Medieval Latin alchymia, from Arabic al-kīmiyāʾ ('the alchemy'), from al- ('the') + kīmiyāʾ, probably from Ancient Greek khēmeía ('art of transmuting metals'). Morphologically, the word is transparent as a compound: its parts remain visible in the modern spelling, while the older history of those parts supplies the deeper ancestry. In modern use, the noun sense is "the medieval forerunner of chemistry seeking to transmute metals into gold", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as chemistry, chemical and derivatives such as alchemize, alchemic, alchemical, alchemist, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary. The principal historical forms in the chain include Arabic al-kīmiyāʾ, Ancient Greek khēmeía, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

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