Etymology

tamoxifen

T1A1M3O1X8I1F4E1N1

Today it means: A nonsteroidal estrogen antagonist used in the treatment of postmenopausal breast cancer and infertility in women. Full definition →

English phen(yl) ← French phényle ← Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*terh₂-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*térh₂t
  3. Proto-Indo-European*tr̥h₂ónts
  4. Proto-Indo-European*tr̥h₂n̥ts
  5. Proto-Italic*trāns
  6. Proto-Italic*trāns-
  7. Latintrans-
  8. Englisht(rans)-
  9. Egyptianjmn
  10. Ancient GreekᾸ̓́μμων (Ắmmōn)
  11. LatinAmmōn
  12. Latinammoniacus
  13. Englishammonia
  14. Englisham(ine)
  15. Proto-Indo-European*h₂eḱ-der.?
  16. Ancient Greekὀξῠ́ς (oxŭ́s)
  17. Englishoxy-
  18. Proto-Indo-European*bʰeh₂-
  19. Proto-Indo-European*bʰh₂nyéti
  20. Proto-Hellenic*pʰáňňō
  21. Ancient Greekφαίνω (phaínō)
  22. Frenchphéno-
  23. Proto-Indo-European*swel-der.?
  24. Ancient Greekῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)
  25. Frenchphényle
  26. Englishphen(yl)
  27. English todaytamoxifen

From t(rans)- + am(ine) + oxy- + phen(yl).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.