Etymology

tryptophan

T1R1Y4P3T1O1P3H4A1N1

Today it means: An essential amino acid with an indole side chain; present in many foods, especially chocolate, oats, banana and milk; it is essential for normal growth and development and is the precursor of serotonin and niacin; any specific form of this compound, or any derivative of it. Full definition →

German Tryptophan ← Ancient Greek φαίνω
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromφαίνω“to appear”
  2. German · borrowed fromTryptophan
  3. English todaytryptophan

From German Tryptophan, from Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō, “to appear”).

Words from the same roots

Ancient Greekφαίνω all →

phenotypephenolphenylautophanoushomophenemyophan-phanyphenepheno-phenogampyrophane

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.