tyrosine

Etymology

It is formed irregularly from English tyro- + -ine,^[1][2][3][4] from Ancient Greek τῡρός (tūrós, “cheese”) and the chemical suffix.^[1][5][6][7] The German chemist Justus von Liebig coined the name in 1846, having first obtained the substance a year earlier from old cheese fused with potash.^[6][7] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary derive the Greek noun from Proto-Indo-European *teuə- (“to swell”),^[5][6] and Merriam-Webster refers it to butter.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An amino acid that is a precursor of several hormones: 1857, in W. A. Miller's Elements of Chemistry.^[1][6][2] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1855–60.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The name records where the substance was first found: cheese.^[7][4] Its meaning has stayed the same; modern dictionaries describe it as a component of proteins and a precursor of thyroxine, melanin and adrenaline.^[9][10][1]

Timeline

• 1857 – an amino acid that is a precursor of several hormones.^[1][6][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A crystalline amino acid, C₉H₁₁NO₃, that is a component of most proteins and is not essential in the diet; it is a precursor of thyroxine, melanin and adrenaline.^{[2][9][10][1]}

Word family

• tyramine
• tyrosinase
• tyrosinemia
• tyrosinosis

Related words

• butter

References

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