Etymology

valrubicin

V4A1L1R1U1B3I1C3I1N1

Today it means: A particular drug used to treat cancer. Full definition →

English valerate
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The story

  1. Englishvaleric acid
  2. Englishvalerate
  3. English todayvalrubicin

Blend of val(erate) (“ester of valeric acid”) + -rubicin (“daunorubicin derivative”). However, the molecule is in fact a valerate analog of doxorubicin, not daunorubicin. Thus an etymology as val(erate) + (doxo)rubicin is plausible as well. See libfix for information on affixes such as -rubicin.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.