Etymology

macronucleus

M3A1C3R1O1N1U1C3L1E1U1S1

Today it means: The larger of the two nuclei present in ciliate protozoans; it controls the nonreproductive functions of the cell. Full definition →

English nucleus ← Latin nucleu ← Proto-Italic *knuks
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*meh₂ḱ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*mh₂ḱrós
  3. Proto-Hellenic*makrós
  4. Ancient Greekμᾰκρός (măkrós)
  5. Frenchmacro-
  6. Englishmacro-
  7. Proto-Italic*knuks
  8. Latinnux
  9. Latinnucleu
  10. Englishnucleus
  11. English todaymacronucleus

From macro- + nucleus.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.