Etymology

eicosanoid

E1I1C3O1S1A1N1O1I1D2

Today it means: Any of a family of naturally-occurring substances derived from 20-carbon polyunsaturated fatty acids; they include the prostaglandins, thromboxanes, leukotrienes and epoxyeicosatrienoic acids; they function as hormones. Full definition →

Ancient Greek εἶδος (eîdos) ← Proto-Hellenic *wéidos ← Proto-Indo-European *wéydos
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Englisheicosanoic
  2. Proto-Indo-European*weyd-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*wéydos
  4. Proto-Hellenic*wéidos
  5. Ancient Greekεἶδος (eîdos)
  6. English todayeicosanoid

From eicosanoic + -oid (“-like”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.