melanin

Etymology

It is formed from English melano- + -in,^[2][3][4][5] the chemical suffix added to the stem of Ancient Greek μέλας (mélas, “black”), genitive μέλανος (mélanos).^[6][7][8][9] The OED takes it as modelled on Italian melaina, a name that B. Bizio coined in 1825 from the same Greek adjective and ἀεί (aeí, “ever, always”),^[2] and compares German Melain (1825) and Melanin (1854), and French mélaïne (1846) and mélanine (1855).^[2] Barnhart thinks the English word was probably influenced by melanoma, recorded from 1840,^[8][10] and Etymonline calls it Modern Latin.^[7] The Greek adjective is probably from a root meaning "black, dark-coloured", which also gave Lithuanian mėlynas (“blue”).^[7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A dark brown or black pigment in animal bodies: 1843, in R. Owen's Lectures on Comparative Anatomy.^[2][3][8] Etymonline dates the word to 1832.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named the dark pigment of skin, hair, eyes and feathers;^[2][11] in later use it covers a group of such pigments, which the OED defines now specifically as high-molecular compounds derived from tyrosine.^[2][12] Merriam-Webster adds a second sense for similar pigments obtained artificially by oxidation of tyrosine or dopa, and notes that plant tissues such as raw potato darken with melanin when exposed to air.^[3][13] The adjective melanistic and the noun melanism belong to the same family.^[7]

Timeline

• 1843 – a dark pigment of animal structures.^[2][3][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of a group of dark brown or black pigments found in the skin, hair, eyes, fur and feathers of animals and people; it increases when the skin tans, and is produced in excess in some skin diseases and in melanomas.^{[11][14][9][12]}
2. Any similar pigment in plant tissues, or one obtained artificially by the oxidation of tyrosine.^[3][13]

Word family

• melaninlike
• melanize
• eumelanin

Related words

• melano-
• melanoma
• melanism
• melancholy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
14. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins