Etymology

topoisomerase

T1O1P3O1I1S1O1M3E1R1A1S1E1

Today it means: Any of several enzymes that affect the topology of DNA, especially ones that relax supercoiling. Full definition →

English isomerase ← Ancient Greek δῐᾰ́στᾰσῐς (dĭắstăsĭs) ← Proto-Hellenic *hístāmi
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The story

  1. Ancient Greekτόπος (tópos)
  2. Englishtopo-
  3. Englishisomer
  4. Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
  5. Proto-Indo-European*trísinflu.
  6. Proto-Indo-European*dwís
  7. Ancient Greekδιά (diá)
  8. Ancient Greekδῐᾰ- (dĭă-)
  9. Proto-Indo-European*steh₂-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*stísteh₂ti
  11. Proto-Hellenic*hístāmi
  12. Ancient Greekῐ̔́στημῐ (hĭ́stēmĭ)
  13. Ancient Greekδῐῐ̈́στημῐ (dĭĭ̈́stēmĭ)
  14. Ancient Greekδῐᾰ́στᾰσῐς (dĭắstăsĭs)
  15. Englishdiastase
  16. Englishisomerase
  17. English todaytopoisomerase

From topo- + isomerase.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.