Naming an alcohol follows the same general procedure you already know, with one specific rule layered on top: the parent chain must be the longest continuous chain that includes the carbon bearing the -OH group, even if a longer chain exists elsewhere in the molecule that skips over that carbon. And once the parent chain is chosen, it's numbered from whichever end gives the -OH group the lowest possible locant, ahead of any other substituent consideration.

The suffix itself is formed by dropping the final -e from the corresponding alkane name and adding -ol: hexane becomes hexan-ol, propane becomes propan-ol, and so on — with a locant number inserted to show exactly which carbon carries the hydroxyl.

When a molecule contains more than one hydroxyl group, the suffix expands to reflect the count, using the same di-/tri- multiplying prefixes you learned for substituents, combined with -ol: ethane-1,2-diol is the systematic name for ethylene glycol (two OH groups on adjacent carbons of a two-carbon chain), and propane-1,2,3-triol is the systematic name for glycerol (three OH groups on a three-carbon chain, one per carbon).

When the -OH sits directly on an aromatic ring rather than an ordinary sp³ carbon chain, the parent name switches entirely to phenol (literally "hydroxybenzene") rather than using the standard alkane-based -ol suffix system — phenol is both an accepted IUPAC name in its own right and the common name, so no separate systematic alternative is typically expected. Finally, remember that whether an alcohol is primary, secondary, or tertiary is communicated entirely through its name and locant — the classification isn't a separate naming element, but something you determine by checking how many carbons are attached to the hydroxyl-bearing carbon itself.