vitamin
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
vitamin /ˈvɪtəmɪn, ˈvʌɪt-/
▶noun any of a group of organic compounds which are essential for normal growth and nutrition and are required in small quantities in the diet because they cannot be synthesized by the body.
– origin early 20th cent.: from L. vita ‘life’ + amine, because vitamins were orig. thought to contain an amino acid.
'vitamin' also found in these Oxford entries:
antioxidant
- ascorbic acid
- avitaminosis
- beriberi
- biotin
- calciferol
- carotene
- cholecalciferol
- cobalamin
- cyanocobalamin
- deficiency disease
- deficient
- dehydrocholesterol
- ergocalciferol
- ergosterol
- find
- folic acid
- growth factor
- inositol
- international unit
- menaquinone
- nicotinic acid
- nyctalopia
- osteomalacia
- osteoporosis
- pantothenic acid
- pernicious anaemia
- phylloquinone
- provitamin
- pyridoxine
- retinoid
- retinol
- riboflavin
- rickets
- scurvy
- thiamine
- tocopherol
- vitamin A
- vitamin B
- vitamin C
- vitamin D
- vitamin E
- vitamin H
- vitamin K
- vitamin M
- vitamin P
- xerophthalmia
