Etymology

tetrapyrrole

T1E1T1R1A1P3Y4R1R1O1L1E1

Today it means: any of several natural pigments having a structure of four pyrrole rings connected by a one-carbon unit Full definition →

English pyrrole ← German Pyrro ← Ancient Greek πῠρρός (pŭrrhós)
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kʷetwóres
  2. Proto-Hellenic*kʷétwores
  3. Ancient Greekτέσσᾰρες (téssăres)
  4. Ancient Greekτετρᾰ- (tetră-)
  5. Englishtetra-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*péh₂wr̥
  7. Proto-Hellenic*pāwər
  8. Ancient Greekπῦρ (pûr)
  9. Ancient Greekπῠρρός (pŭrrhós)
  10. GermanPyrro
  11. Englishpyrrole
  12. English todaytetrapyrrole

From tetra- + pyrrole.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.