Word
amino
US/əˈminoʊ/
UK/ɐmˈiːnəʊ/
Definitions
01amino acid
n. a short way of saying 'amino acid', which is a small part of a protein.
n. a common shorthand for an amino acid, particularly in the context of nutrition or biochemistry.
“Athletes often take aminos to help their muscles recover after a hard workout.”
“The supplement contains a balanced profile of essential aminos that the body cannot produce on its own.”
Technical · Informal
Usage
Often used in the plural form 'aminos' when referring to dietary supplements.
Synonyms
02relating to an amine
adj. describes a specific chemical group found in many organic molecules.
adj. relating to or containing the amine functional group (-NH2) within a molecule.
“The amino group is a key part of the molecule's structure.”
“The chemical properties of the compound are largely determined by the presence of the amino functional group attached to the carbon chain.”
Technical
Real-World Examples
“Software such as AlphaFold can predict the 3D structure of proteins from their amino acid sequences.” “A rare meteorite that crashed through a New Jersey roof contains evidence of ancient salty fluids, organic compounds, and amino acids from a primitive asteroid.” Etymology
From the prefix amino-, from amine, from ammonia + -ine.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Collocations
Word family
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/amino