Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “vitamin” come from?

Vitamin derives from English vital combined with English amine, which comes from English ammonia, from Latin sal ammoniacus, ultimately tracing to Proto-Indo-European roots meaning life and animate beings.

vitamin (English): Any of a specific group of organic compounds...

Definitions

  1. Any of a specific group of organic compounds...

Ancestry of “vitamin”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishvitamineObsolete form of vitamin
2EnglishamineA functional group formally derived from ammonia...
3English-ineOf or pertaining to; Used to form demonyms;...
4French-inefeminine singular of -in; female equivalent of...
5French-épast participle root verb suffix of regular -er...
6Middle French-é—
7Old French-éused to form past participles of regular -er...
8Latin-asuffixed to the roots of verbs, forms agent...
9Proto-Italic-ā—
10Proto-Indo-European-éh₂—

Words derived from “vitamin”

  • multivitamin
  • dihydroxyvitamin
  • hydroxyvitamin
  • provitamin
  • hypervitaminosis
  • hypovitaminosis
  • megavitamin
  • previtamin
  • vitamer
  • avitaminosis
  • nonvitamin
  • antivitamin
  • vitaminosis
  • pseudovitamin
  • vitaminlike
  • vitaminic
  • vitaminless
  • vitaminize
  • vitaminergic
  • vitamiser
  • vitamine
  • vitaminise
  • ビタミン
  • vitamine
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -éh₂ →