Etymology

spironolactone

S1P3I1R1O1N1O1L1A1C3T1O1N1E1

Today it means: A steroid drug which acts as an antimineralocorticoid (for which purpose it is used in the treatment of certain types of edema and hypertension) and an antiandrogen (for which purpose it is used as part of some types of hormone therapy, especially for transgender women). Full definition →

English lactone ← Latin lac ← German Keton
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*sper-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*sper-yeh₂-
  3. Ancient Greekσπεῖρα (speîra)
  4. Latinspīra
  5. Englishspiro-
  6. GermanKeton
  7. Englishketone
  8. Latinlac
  9. Englishlacto-
  10. Englishlactone
  11. English todayspironolactone

From spiro- + -one + -o- + lactone.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.