Amino

How to spell amino

5 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce amino

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does amino mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to or containing the chemical group NH2, especially as in the building blocks of proteins.

Amino in a sentence

• The body builds proteins from twenty different amino acids.

• The supplement label listed every essential amino acid it contained.

Where does amino come from?

Language of origin: Other

This word grew out of the modern chemistry of nitrogen compounds, and behind it stands the word 'ammonia'. Ammonia itself was named after sal ammoniac, a salt gathered near the temple of the Egyptian god Ammon, so the chemical family ultimately carries a divine name. Chemists of the nineteenth century coined 'amine' for organic compounds containing the nitrogen group NH2, and 'amino' became the combining form used when that group is attached to something else, as in 'amino acid'. The connecting 'o' is simply the linking vowel that chemists favour when stacking parts of a compound name together. The spelling trap is mostly the single 'm' and the unstressed final vowel: writers who think of 'ammonia' are tempted to double the 'm', yet amino keeps just one.

How the word is built

• amin- (from amine, a nitrogen compound derived from ammonia)
• -o (combining/connective vowel forming chemical compound terms)