Etymology

interleukin

I1N1T1E1R1L1E1U1K5I1N1

Today it means: Any of a group of cytokine proteins important in the regulation of lymphocyte function. Full definition →

Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

From inter- + leuko- + -in; *inter-: from Latin inter- (“between, amid”), a form of prepositional inter (“between”). *leuko: from Ancient Greek λευκός (leukós, “white”) *-in: from French -ine, from Latin -īna, feminine of -īnus "of" or "belonging to"

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.