Etymology

orthomolecular

O1R1T1H4O1M3O1L1E1C3U1L1A1R1

Today it means: Relating to the theory that human health, including mental illness, depends upon chemical deficiencies and can be cured with vitamins etc. Full definition →

English molecular ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? ← French molécule
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₃er-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₃érdʰeti?
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₃erdʰ-
  5. Proto-Hellenic*ortʰwós
  6. Ancient Greekὀρθός (orthós)
  7. Englishortho-
  8. Latinmōlēs
  9. New Latinmōlēcula
  10. Frenchmolécule
  11. Englishmolecule
  12. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  13. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  14. Englishmolecular
  15. English todayorthomolecular

From ortho- + molecular.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.