To provide a liquid crystal compound satisfying at least one of high stability to heat, light and so forth, a high clearing point, low minimum temperature of a liquid-crystal phase, small viscosity, suitable optical anisotropy, large dielectric anisotropy, a suitable elastic constant and excellent compatibility with other liquid-crystal compounds, a liquid crystal composition containing the compound and a liquid crystal display device including the composition. A compound is represented by formula (1-1). ##STR00001##
For example, R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are independently hydrogen, alkyl having 1 to 10 carbons, alkenyl having 3 to 10 carbons and alkoxy having 1 to 9 carbons; ring A.sup.1 is 1,4-cyclohexylene; ring A.sup.2 and ring A.sup.3 are independently 1,4-cyclohexylene or 1,4-phenylene; Z.sup.1 is a single bond or (CH.sub.2).sub.2; l is 0 or 1, m and n are 0, 1 or 2, a sum: l+m+n is 0, 1 or 2; x is 0 or 1.

An object of the invention is to provide a polymerizable compound having small refractive index anisotropy and having high storage stability and high alignment properties when constituting a polymerizable liquid crystal composition, and provide a polymerizable liquid crystal composition containing the polymerizable compound. Further, the object is to provide a polymer produced by polymerizing the polymerizable liquid crystal composition and an optically anisotropic body including the polymer. The present invention provides a polymerizable compound represented by general formula (I), a polymerizable liquid crystal composition containing the compound as a constituent component, and further provides a polymer produced by polymerizing the polymerizable liquid crystal composition and an optically anisotropic body including the polymer.