alkapton
Homogentisic acidHomogentisic acid
Meaning
1 senses(uncountable)Homogentisic acid
More definitions
- an acid formed as an intermediate product of the metabolism of tyrosine and phenylalanine
Origin
From German Alkapton, coined by Boedeker (1861) as "an admittedly somewhat barbaric combinFrom German Alkapton, coined by Boedeker (1861) as "an admittedly somewhat barbaric combination" of Alkali (“alkali”) + Ancient Greek κάπτον (kápton), neuter present participle of Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”), after the tendency of alkapton to strongly react with oxygen in alkaline solution.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Synonyms
2 synonymsClose in meaning
- an acid formed as an intermediate product of the metabolism of tyrosine and phenylalanine:alcaptonhomogentisic acid
Word family
1 related wordsDerivedalkaptonuria
Lessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.