Etymology

hopanoid

H4O1P3A1N1O1I1D2

Today it means: Any of a class of pentacyclic compounds, somewhat similar to steroids, that have various functions in prokaryotes Full definition →

Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

From Hopea (genus of plant from which the substance was originally derived), from J Hope (Scottish botanist).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.