Etymology

anabolism

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Today it means: The constructive metabolism of the body, as distinguished from catabolism. Full definition →

Ancient Greek βάλλω (bállō) ← Proto-Hellenic *gʷəlnō ← Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂en-
  2. Proto-Hellenic*aná
  3. Ancient Greekᾰ̓νᾰ́ (ănắ)
  4. Ancient Greekἀνα- (ana-)
  5. Proto-Indo-European*gʷelH-
  6. Proto-Hellenic*gʷəlnō
  7. Ancient Greekβάλλω (bállō)
  8. English todayanabolism

From Ancient Greek ἀνα- (ana-, “up”) + βάλλω (bállō, “I throw”) + -ism. Formed in analogy with metabolism.

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekἀνα- all →

anabolicanodeanaphaseAnacaprian-ana-anabaptizeanasarca

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.