Meanings
nounguanine (plural guanines)
plural guanines · alternative obsolete guanin
- chemistryA substance first obtained from guano; it is a nucleic base and pairs with cytosine in DNA and RNA (by means of three hydrogen bonds).
Then he found them, the substances that made up the four-letter alphabet in whose language all life is written — adenine and cytosine, guanine and thymine.
1997, Ian McEwan, Enduring Love, Vintage (1998), page 164
Synonyms & antonyms
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Quechuawan
- Spanishguano
- Englishguano
- Englishguanine
From guano + -ine. Guanine was named by the German chemist Julius Bodo Unger in 1846 who isolated it from guano.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan guanina
- guaninasubstance obtained from guano
Chinese Mandarin 鳥嘌呤 /鸟嘌呤
- 鳥嘌呤 /鸟嘌呤 (niǎopiàolìng, niǎopiāolìng)substance obtained from guano
Czech guanin
- guaninsubstance obtained from guano
Esperanto guanino
- guaninosubstance obtained from guano
Finnish guaniini
- guaniinisubstance obtained from guano
French guanine
- guaninesubstance obtained from guano
German Guanin
- Guaninsubstance obtained from guano
Hungarian guanin
- guaninsubstance obtained from guano
Icelandic gúanín
- gúanínsubstance obtained from guano
Italian guanina
- guaninasubstance obtained from guano
Japanese グアニン
- グアニン (guanin)substance obtained from guano
Polish guanina
- guaninasubstance obtained from guano
Russian гуани́н
- гуани́н (guanín)substance obtained from guano
Spanish guanina
- guaninasubstance obtained from guano
Turkish guanin
- guaninsubstance obtained from guano
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
guanine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/guanine
MLA
“guanine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/guanine. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “guanine,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/guanine.
Source: guanine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.