creatine

Etymology

It is borrowed from French créatine, the name the French chemist Michel-Eugène Chevreul gave the substance in 1832,^[2][3] formed irregularly from Ancient Greek κρέας (kréas, “flesh, meat”) and -ine.^[2][4][5][1] Merriam-Webster Unabridged treats it as an international scientific word.^[6] The Greek noun comes from Proto-Indo-European *kreuə- (“raw flesh”).^[3][7] Wiktionary notes that it is not related to create.^[1] Collins also records the spelling creatin.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A compound found in muscle tissue: 1835, in the Records of General Science.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates it to 1840,^[6] and Etymonline to 1843.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The OED now describes creatine as stored in muscle in a phosphorylated form, phosphocreatine, the main source of phosphate for regenerating ATP,^[2] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged notes that it is found in vertebrate muscle and blood and was obtained from meat extracts.^[6]

Timeline

• 1835 – a compound found in the muscle tissue of animals.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates it to 1840,^[6] and Etymonline to 1843.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An organic compound made in the body and stored mainly in muscle, where in its phosphorylated form it supplies the phosphate needed to regenerate ATP.^[2][6][8]

Word family

• phosphocreatine
• creatine kinase
• creatine phosphate

Related words

• creatinine

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins