Etymology

mercaptopurine

M3E1R1C3A1P3T1O1P3U1R1I1N1E1

Today it means: An thiol antimetabolite C₅H₄N₄S that interferes especially with the metabolism of purine bases and the biosynthesis of nucleic acids and that is sometimes used in the treatment of acute leukemia. Full definition →

English purine ← German Purin ← Latin mercurium captāns
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The story

  1. LatinMercurius
  2. Latinmercurium
  3. Proto-Indo-European*kap-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*kapyéti
  5. Proto-Italic*kapjō
  6. Latincapiō
  7. Latincaptō
  8. Latincaptāns
  9. Latinmercurium captāns
  10. Englishmercapto-
  11. GermanPurin
  12. Englishpurine
  13. English todaymercaptopurine

From mercapto- + purine.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.