Etymology

mevalonolactone

M3E1V4A1L1O1N1O1L1A1C3T1O1N1E1

Today it means: The lactone form of mevalonic acid, formed by internal condensation of its terminal alcohol and carboxylic acid functional groups. Full definition →

English lactone ← Latin lac ← German Keton
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*médʰu
  2. Proto-Hellenic*métʰu
  3. Ancient Greekμέθυ (méthu)
  4. Proto-Indo-European*swel-der.?
  5. Ancient Greekῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
  6. GermanMethy
  7. Englishmethyl
  8. Englishvalerian
  9. Englishvaleric
  10. GermanKeton
  11. Englishketone
  12. Englishmevalonic
  13. Latinlac
  14. Englishlacto-
  15. Englishlactone
  16. English todaymevalonolactone

From mevalonic + -o- + lactone.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.