Etymology

laetrile

L1A1E1T1R1I1L1E1

Today it means: A drug, derived from the amygdalin of apricot kernels, once thought capable of destroying cancer cells by the release of cyanide but later banned in the United States by the FDA. Full definition →

Ancient Greek ἀμυγδάλη
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromἀμυγδάλη“almond”
  2. English todaylaetrile

A contraction of l-mandelonitrile, from Ancient Greek ἀμυγδάλη (amugdálē, “almond”) + -o- + nitrile.

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekἀμυγδάλη all →

almondamygdalaamygdaloidamygdaleamygdalitis

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.