Etymology

lactam

L1A1C3T1A1M3

Today it means: Any of a class of cyclic amides that are the nitrogen analogs of lactones, formed by heating amino acids; the tautomeric enol forms are known as lactims. Full definition →

English am(ide) ← Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ← Latin ammoniacus
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The story

  1. Latinlac
  2. Englishlacto-
  3. GermanKeton
  4. Englishketone
  5. Englishlac(tone)
  6. Egyptianjmn
  7. Ancient GreekᾸ̓́μμων (Ắmmōn)
  8. LatinAmmōn
  9. Latinammoniacus
  10. Englishammonia
  11. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
  12. Englisham(ide)
  13. English todaylactam

From lac(tone) + am(ide).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.