Etymology

adrenaline

A1D2R1E1N1A1L1I1N1E1

Today it means: Epinephrine, the hormone and neurotransmitter. Full definition →

English adrenal ← Late Latin rēnāli ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂éd
  2. Proto-Italic*ad
  3. Proto-Italic*ad-
  4. Latinad-
  5. Englishad-
  6. Latinrēn
  7. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  9. Late Latinrēnāli
  10. Englishrenal
  11. Englishadrenal
  12. English todayadrenaline

From adrenal + -ine, coined by Japanese chemist Takamine Jōkichi in 1901.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.