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vitamin

vi·ta·min

UK/ˈvɪt.ə.mɪn/ US/ˈvaɪ.tə.mɪn/ fairly common informal

noun

1.

any of a group of organic substances essential in small quantities to normal metabolism

Origin

First use appears c. 1920, originally vitamine (1912), from Latin vīta (“life”) (see vital) + amine (see amino acids). Vitamine coined by Polish biochemist Casimir Funk after the initial discovery of aberic acid (thiamine), when it was thought that all such nutrients would be amines. The term had become ubiquitous by the time it was discovered that vitamin C, among others, had no amine component. In 1920, British biochemist Jack Drummond proposed that the final -e be dropped to deemphasize the amine reference. The ending -in was acceptable because it was used for natural substances of undefined composition. Drummond also introduced the lettering system of nomenclature (Vitamin A, B, C, etc.) at this same time.

Phrases

  • B vitamin
  • sunshine vitamin
  • vitamin A
  • vitamin A acid
  • vitamin B complex
  • vitamin B1
  • vitamin B2
  • vitamin Bc

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.