Meanings
plural vitamins · alternative obsolete vitamine
- Any of a specific group of organic compounds essential in small quantities for healthy human growth, metabolism, development, and body function. They are found in minute amounts in plant and animal foods or sometimes produced synthetically, and deficiencies of specific vitamins produce specific disorders.
a food rich in vitamins
- figurativelyinformalpreceding a word or its initial letter, to imply that the referent benefits health or wellness
Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life
1 more example
I just follow three three Cs: clean living, chewing thoroughly, and a daily dose of vitamin Church
present singular third person vitamins · participle present vitamining · participle past vitamined · past vitamined · alternative obsolete vitamine
- datedtransitiveTo fortify with vitamins.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*gʷeyh₃-
- Proto-Italic*gʷītā
- Latinvīta
- Egyptianjmn
- Ancient GreekᾸ̓́μμων (Ắmmōn)
- LatinAmmōn
- Latinammoniacus
- Englishammonia
- Englishamine
- Englishvitamine
- Englishvitamin
First use appears c. 1920, originally vitamine (1912), from Latin vīta (“life”) (see vital) + amine (see amino acids). Vitamine coined by Polish biochemist Casimir Funk after the initial discovery of aberic acid (thiamine), when it was thought that all such nutrients would be amines. The term had become ubiquitous by the time it was discovered that vitamin C, among others, had no amine component. In 1920, British biochemist Jack Drummond proposed that the final -e be dropped to deemphasize the amine reference. The ending -in was acceptable because it was used for natural substances of undefined composition. Drummond also introduced the lettering system of nomenclature (Vitamin A, B, C, etc.) at this same time.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic فِيتَامِين
- فِيتَامِين (fitamīn)organic compound essential to human health
Bengali ভিটামিন
- ভিটামিন (bhiṭamin)organic compound essential to human health
Bulgarian витами́н
- витами́н (vitamín)organic compound essential to human health
Catalan vitamina, vitamínic
- vitaminaorganic compound essential to human health
- vitamínic(attributive use of the noun)
Chinese Cantonese 維他命 /维他命, 維生素 /维生素
- 維他命 /维他命 (wai⁴ taa¹ ming⁶)organic compound essential to human health
- 維生素 /维生素organic compound essential to human health
Chinese Mandarin 維生素 /维生素, 維他命 /维他命
- 維生素 /维生素 (wéishēngsù)organic compound essential to human health
- 維他命 /维他命 (wéitāmìng)organic compound essential to human health
Czech vitamín
- vitamínorganic compound essential to human health
Danish vitamin
- vitaminorganic compound essential to human health
Dutch vitamine
- vitamineorganic compound essential to human health
Estonian vitamiin
- vitamiinorganic compound essential to human health
Finnish vitamiini
- vitamiiniorganic compound essential to human health
French vitamine
- vitamineorganic compound essential to human health
German Vitamin
- Vitaminorganic compound essential to human health
Greek βιταμίνη
- βιταμίνη (vitamíni)organic compound essential to human health
Hebrew וִיטָמִין
- וִיטָמִין (vitamin)organic compound essential to human health
Hindi विटामिन, जीवसत्त्व
- विटामिन (viṭāmin)organic compound essential to human health
- जीवसत्त्व (jīvsattva)organic compound essential to human health
Hungarian vitamin
- vitaminorganic compound essential to human health
Icelandic vítamín, fjörefni
- vítamínorganic compound essential to human health
- fjörefniorganic compound essential to human health
Indonesian vitamin
- vitaminorganic compound essential to human health
Irish vitimín
- vitimínorganic compound essential to human health
Italian vitamina
- vitaminaorganic compound essential to human health
Japanese ビタミン
- ビタミン (bitamin)organic compound essential to human health
Korean 비타민
- 비타민 (bitamin)organic compound essential to human health
Latvian vitamīns
- vitamīnsorganic compound essential to human health
Lithuanian vitaminas
- vitaminasorganic compound essential to human health
Malay vitamin
- vitaminorganic compound essential to human health
Māori huaora
- huaoraorganic compound essential to human health
Norwegian Bokmål vitamin
- vitaminorganic compound essential to human health
Persian ویتامین
- ویتامین (vitâmin)organic compound essential to human health
Polish witamina
- witaminaorganic compound essential to human health
Portuguese vitamina
- vitaminaorganic compound essential to human health
Romanian vitamină
- vitaminăorganic compound essential to human health
Russian витами́н
- витами́н (vitamín)organic compound essential to human health
Slovak vitamín
- vitamínorganic compound essential to human health
Spanish vitamina, vitamínico
- vitaminaorganic compound essential to human health
- vitamínico(attributive use of the noun)
Swahili vitamini
- vitaminiorganic compound essential to human health
Swedish vitamin
- vitaminorganic compound essential to human health
Tagalog bitamina
- bitaminaorganic compound essential to human health
Thai วิตามิน, ไวตามิน
- วิตามิน (wí-dtaa-min)organic compound essential to human health
- ไวตามิน (wai-dtaa-min)organic compound essential to human health
Turkish vitamin
- vitaminorganic compound essential to human health
Ukrainian вітамі́н, життєда́й
- вітамі́н (vitamín)organic compound essential to human health
- життєда́й (žyttjedáj)organic compound essential to human health
Urdu حَیَاتِین, وٹامن
- حَیَاتِین (hayātīn)organic compound essential to human health
- وٹامن (viṭāmin)organic compound essential to human health
Vietnamese sinh tố, vi ta min
- sinh tốorganic compound essential to human health
- vi ta minorganic compound essential to human health
Yiddish וויטאַמין
- וויטאַמין (vitamin)organic compound essential to human health
Cite this entry
vitamin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vitamin
“vitamin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vitamin. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “vitamin,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vitamin.
Source: vitamin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.