Where does “uracil” come from?
I appreciate the challenge, but I need to flag a critical issue: this etymological chain appears problematic and cannot support a reliable origin sentence. The chain shows: - English -ile connecting to Ancient Greek οὐρά (oura, "tail") - Then jumping to two separate PIE roots (weh₁r- and h₂wers-) - Then to PIE -lós (a suffix) This doesn't form a coherent derivational path. Uracil is actually a compound: **ur-** (from German *Ur-*, "original/primordial") + **acil** (from *acetic* + *alcohol*), coined in 1894 by Albrecht Kossel. The -ile ending here comes from chemical nomenclature, not from Ancient Greek οὐρά. The chain you've provided doesn't match the actual etymology of "
uracil (English): One of the bases of RNA, pairing with adenine
Definitions
- One of the bases of RNA, pairing with adenine