Etymology

polynucleotide

P3O1L1Y4N1U1C3L1E1O1T1I1D2E1

Today it means: A polymeric macromolecule composed of many nucleotides; examples include DNA and RNA Full definition →

English nucleotide ← Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ← Latin nucleu
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pleh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*polh₁ús
  3. Ancient Greekπολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)
  4. Englishpoly-
  5. Proto-Italic*knuks
  6. Latinnux
  7. Latinnucleu
  8. Englishnucleus
  9. Englishnucleo-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
  11. Englishnucleotide
  12. English todaypolynucleotide

From poly- + nucleotide.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.