What does "xanthine" mean?

Any of a group of alkaloids that include caffeine, theophylline, and theobromine as well as the parent compound, a precursor of uric acid found in many organs of the body.

What is a synonym for "xanthine"?

Common synonyms include: xanthein, xanthein.

Xanthine

//ˈzænθin// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Any of a group of alkaloids that include caffeine, theophylline, and theobromine as well as the parent compound, a precursor of uric acid found in many organs of the body. countable, uncountable
2
crystalline oxidation product of the metabolism of nucleoproteins; precursor of uric acid; found in many organs and in urine wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

xanthein xanthein

Etymology

From international scientific vocabulary, from French xanthine, reflecting New Latin combining forms: xanth- + -ine; ultimately from Ancient Greek ξανθός (xanthós, “yellow”), because xanthine is yellowish-white. By surface analysis, xanth- + -ine.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.