vitamin

B2 Topic:Food & Drink

US /ˈvaɪ.tə.mɪn/ UK /ˈvɪt.ə.mɪn/ See IPA manual

Freq #11140

Meanings

1

noun
A natural substance found in food that the body needs in small amounts to stay healthy.

Oranges are rich in vitamin C.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms vitamins

Derived forms vitamervitaminicvitaminizevitaminosis

Related forms vitamer

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

vitamin pill
a tablet containing vitamins intended to supplement food intake

Noun + noun

Etymology

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. Drummo…

*gʷeyh₃- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Food & Drink

External links

# vitamin

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈvaɪ.tə.mɪn/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈvɪt.ə.mɪn/
**Frequency rank:** 11140

## Meanings
1. A natural substance found in food that the body needs in small amounts to stay healthy.

## Examples
- Oranges are rich in vitamin C.

## Derived Forms
- vitamer
- vitaminic
- vitaminize
- vitaminosis

## Related Forms
- vitamer

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *gʷeyh₃-

## Etymology
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. Drummo…

## AI Etymology
Vitamin is recorded from 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. A key historical form is Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃-. In present-day use, it means a natural substance found in food that the body needs in small amounts to stay healthy.

## Topics
- Food & Drink

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