xanthine

English

Alternative forms

• xanthin (dated or uncommon)

Etymology

From international scientific vocabulary, from French xanthine, reflecting New Latin combining forms: xanth- +‎ -ine; ultimately from Ancient Greek ξανθός (xanthós, “yellow”), because xanthine is yellowish-white.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophones: xanthein, xanthene

Noun

xanthine (plural xanthines)

1. (chemistry) Any of a group of alkaloids that include caffeine, theophylline, and theobromine as well as the parent compound, a precursor of uric acid found in many organs of the body.

Usage notes

• There is much confusion between this word and xanthein, and they are often interchanged.

Derived terms

• hypoxanthine
• methylxanthine
• nonxanthine
• xanthine oxidase
• zooxanthine

Translations

group of alkaloids, including caffeine

• Catalan: xantina f
• Chinese: 黃嘌呤／黄嘌呤 (zh) (huángpiàolìng)
• Czech: xantin m
• Dutch: xanthine (nl)
• Esperanto: ksantino
• Estonian: ksantiin
• Finnish: ksantiini, dioksipuriini
• German: Xanthin (de) n
• Ido: xantino (io)
• Irish: xaintin f, xaintín m
• Italian: xantina (it) f
• Japanese: キサンチン (ja) (kisanchin)
• Portuguese: xantina (pt) f
• Russian: ксанти́н (ru) m (ksantín)
• Spanish: xantina (es) f
• Turkish: ksantin

Anagrams

• xanthein

French

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ξανθός (xanthós, “yellow”) +‎ -ine, because xanthine is yellowish-white.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡzɑ̃.tin/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

xanthine f (plural xanthines)

1. xanthine

Further reading

• “xanthine”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• Xanthien