Etymology

selenocysteine

S1E1L1E1N1O1C3Y4S1T1E1I1N1E1

Today it means: A naturally-occurring amino acid, present in several enzymes, whose structure is that of cysteine but with the sulfur atom replaced by one of selenium Full definition →

English cysteine ← Ancient Greek Σελήνη (Selḗnē) ← Proto-Hellenic *selasnā
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The story

  1. Proto-Hellenic*selasnā
  2. Ancient Greekσελήνη (selḗnē)
  3. Ancient GreekΣελήνη (Selḗnē)
  4. Englishseleno-
  5. Englishcysteine
  6. English todayselenocysteine

From seleno- + cysteine.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.