Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin in UK and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros. The word Kerosene was registered as a trademark by Abraham Gesner in 1854 and for several years only the North American Gas Light Company and the Downer Company (to which Gesner had granted the right) were allowed to call their lamp oil kerosene. It eventually became a genericized trademark.