Etymology

betalain

B3E1T1A1L1A1I1N1

Today it means: A class of red and yellow indole-derived water-soluble pigments found in beets and other plants of the Caryophyllales and used commercially as coloring agents. Full definition →

Latin bēta
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The story

  1. Latin · derived frombēta“beet”
  2. English todaybetalain

Coined to describe the pigments as derivatives from betalamic acid, from Latin bēta (“beet”), + -in.

Words from the same roots

Latinbēta all →

beetbetaine

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.