vitamin

See also: Vitamin, vitamín, vi ta min, and vítamín

English

Etymology

1920, originally vitamine (1912), from Latin vīta (“life”) (see vital) + amine (see amino acids). Vitamine coined by Polish biochemist Casimir Funk after the initial discovery of aberic acid (thiamine), when it was thought that all such nutrients would be amines. The term had become ubiquitous by the time it was discovered that vitamin C, among others, had no amine component. In 1920, British biochemist Jack Drummond proposed that the final -e be dropped to deemphasize the amine reference. The ending -in was acceptable because it was used for natural substances of undefined composition. Drummond also introduced the lettering system of nomenclature (Vitamin A, B, C, etc.) at this same time.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈvɪt.ə.mɪn/,
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈvaɪ.tə.mɪn/, [ˈvʌɪ.ɾə.mɪn]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈvɑet.ə.mən/

Noun

vitamin (plural vitamins)

1. Any of a specific group of organic compounds essential in small quantities for healthy human growth, metabolism, development, and body function; found in minute amounts in plant and animal foods or sometimes produced synthetically; deficiencies of specific vitamins produce specific disorders.

   a food rich in vitamins

Hyponyms

• See also Thesaurus:vitamin

Derived terms

terms derived from "vitamin"

• B vitamin
• sunshine vitamin
• vitamer
• vitaminic
• vitaminize

• vitamin A
  • vitamin A acid
• vitamin B
  • vitamin B complex, vitamin B_c, vitamin B₁, vitamin B₂, vitamin B₃, vitamin B₄, vitamin B₅, vitamin B₆, vitamin B₇, vitamin B₉, vitamin B₁₂, vitamin B₁₇
• vitamin C
• vitamin D
  • vitamin D₁, vitamin D₂, vitamin D₃, vitamin D₄, vitamin D₅
• vitamin E
• vitamin F (obsolete)
• vitamin G
• vitamin H
• vitamin I (slang)
• vitamin J (obsolete)
• vitamin K
  • vitamin K₁, vitamin K₂
• vitamin M
• vitamin O
• vitaminosis
• vitamin P
• vitamin R (slang)
• vitamin V (slang)

Translations

organic compound essential to human health

• Albanian: vitaminë (sq) f
• Antillean Creole: vitamin f, vitaminn f
• Arabic: فِيتَامِين m (fitamīn)

  Hijazi Arabic: فيتامين m (fītāmīn, vītāmīn)

• Armenian: վիտամին (hy) (vitamin)
• Azerbaijani: vitamin (az)
• Belarusian: вітамі́н m (vitamín)
• Bengali: ভিটামিন (bn) (bhiṭamin)
• Bulgarian: витами́н m (vitamín)
• Burmese: ဗီတာမင် (my) (bitamang)
• Catalan: vitamina (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 維他命／维他命 (wai⁴ taa¹ ming⁶), 維生素／维生素 (wai⁶ sang¹ sou³)

  Eastern Min: 維生素／维生素 (mì-sĕng-só), 維他命／维他命 (mì-tă-mêng)

  Hakka: 維他命／维他命 (vî-tha-mín)

  Hokkien: 維生素／维生素 (zh-min-nan) (ûi-seng-sò͘ / ûi-sng-sò͘ / î-sng-sò͘ / î-seng-sò͘), 維他命／维他命 (ûi-tha-bēng), bi-tá-bín

  Mandarin: 維生素／维生素 (zh) (wéishēngsù), 維他命／维他命 (zh) (wéitāmìng)

  Wu: 維生素／维生素 (⁶vi-sen-su), 維他命／维他命 (⁶vi-tha-min)

• Czech: vitamín (cs) m
• Danish: vitamin n
• Dhivehi: ވިޓަމިން (viṭamin̊)
• Dutch: vitamine (nl) c
• Estonian: vitamiin
• Faroese: vitamin f
• Finnish: vitamiini (fi)
• French: vitamine (fr) f
• Galician: vitamina (gl) f
• Georgian: ვიტამინი (viṭamini)
• German: Vitamin (de) n
• Greek: βιταμίνη (el) f (vitamíni)
• Gujarati: પ્રજીવક (prajīvak)
• Hebrew: וִיטָמִין (he) m (vitamin)
• Hindi: विटामिन m (viṭāmin), जीवसत्त्व (jīvsattva)
• Hungarian: vitamin (hu)
• Icelandic: vítamín n, fjörefni n
• Indonesian: vitamin (id)
• Irish: vitimín m
• Italian: vitamina (it) f
• Japanese: ビタミン (ja) (bitamin)
• Kazakh: дәрумен (kk) (därumen)
• Khmer: ជីវជាតិ (km) (ciivĕəʼciət), វីតាមីន (km) (viitaamiin)
• Korean: 비타민 (ko) (bitamin)
• Kyrgyz: витамин (ky) (vitamin)
• Lao: ວິຕາມິນ (lo) (wi tā min), ຢາມີແຮງ (yā mī hǣng)
• Latvian: vitamīns (lv) m
• Lithuanian: vitaminas m
• Macedonian: витами́н m (vitamín)
• Malay: vitamin
• Malayalam: ജീവകം (ml) (jīvakaṁ)
• Maori: huaora
• Marathi: जीवसत्त्व n (jīvsattva)
• Mongolian: витамин (mn) (vitamin), аминдэм (mn) (amindem)
• Nepali: भिटामिन (bhiṭāmin)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: vitamin (no) n

  Nynorsk: vitamin n

• Persian: ویتامین (fa) (vitâmin)
• Plautdietsch: Wietemin f
• Polish: witamina (pl) f
• Portuguese: vitamina (pt) f
• Romanian: vitamină (ro) f
• Russian: витами́н (ru) m (vitamín)
• Sanskrit: जीवसत्त्व (jīvasattva)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: витамин m

  Roman: vitamin m

• Sinhalese: විටමින් (wiṭamin)
• Slovak: vitamín m
• Slovene: vitamin (sl) m
• Spanish: vitamina (es) f
• Swahili: vitamini (sw)
• Swedish: vitamin (sv) c
• Tagalog: bitamina
• Tajik: витамин (tg) (vitamin)
• Thai: วิตามิน (th) (wí-dtaa-min), ไวตามิน (wai-dtaa-min)
• Turkish: vitamin (tr)
• Turkmen: witamin
• Ukrainian: вітамі́н m (vitamín), життєда́й m (žyttjedáj)
• Urdu: حَیَاتِین (ur) m (hayātīn), وٹامن m (viṭāmin)
• Uyghur: ۋىتامىن (ug) (witamin)
• Uzbek: vitamin (uz)
• Vietnamese: sinh tố (vi), vi ta min (vi)
• Yakut: битэмиин (bitemiin)
• Yiddish: וויטאַמין (vitamin)

(attributive use of the noun)

• Galician: vitamínico
• Spanish: vitamínico

Verb

vitamin (third-person singular simple present vitamins, present participle vitamining, simple past and past participle vitamined)

1. (transitive, dated) To fortify with vitamins.

See also

• vitamer

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

French vitamine.

Noun

vitamin

1. vitamin

Declension

Declension of vitamin

	singular	plural
nominative	vitamin	vitaminler
genitive	vitaminniñ	vitaminlerniñ
dative	vitaminge	vitaminlerge
accusative	vitaminni	vitaminlerni
locative	vitaminde	vitaminlerde
ablative	vitaminden	vitaminlerden

References

• “vitamin”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vitamiːn/, [vitˢaˈmiːˀn]

Noun

vitamin n (singular definite vitaminet, plural indefinite vitaminer)

1. vitamin

Declension

Declension of vitamin

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	vitamin	vitaminet	vitaminer	vitaminerne
genitive	vitamins	vitaminets	vitaminers	vitaminernes

Related terms

• A-vitamin, B-vitamin, C-vitamin, D-vitamin, E-vitamin, K-vitamin
• multivitamin
• provitamin
• vitaminholdig
• vitaminisere

Further reading

• “vitamin” in Den Danske Ordbog
• vitamin on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

Hungarian

Etymology

From English vitamin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈvitɒmin]
• Hyphenation: vi‧ta‧min
• Rhymes: -in

Noun

vitamin (plural vitaminok)

1. vitamin

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	vitamin	vitaminok
accusative	vitamint	vitaminokat
dative	vitaminnak	vitaminoknak
instrumental	vitaminnal	vitaminokkal
causal-final	vitaminért	vitaminokért
translative	vitaminná	vitaminokká
terminative	vitaminig	vitaminokig
essive-formal	vitaminként	vitaminokként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	vitaminban	vitaminokban
superessive	vitaminon	vitaminokon
adessive	vitaminnál	vitaminoknál
illative	vitaminba	vitaminokba
sublative	vitaminra	vitaminokra
allative	vitaminhoz	vitaminokhoz
elative	vitaminból	vitaminokból
delative	vitaminról	vitaminokról
ablative	vitamintól	vitaminoktól
non-attributive possessive - singular	vitaminé	vitaminoké
non-attributive possessive - plural	vitaminéi	vitaminokéi

Possessive forms of vitamin
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	vitaminom	vitaminjaim
2nd person sing.	vitaminod	vitaminjaid
3rd person sing.	vitaminja	vitaminjai
1st person plural	vitaminunk	vitaminjaink
2nd person plural	vitaminotok	vitaminjaitok
3rd person plural	vitaminjuk	vitaminjaik

Derived terms

• vitaminos

Compound words

• A-vitamin
• B-vitamin
• C-vitamin
• D-vitamin
• vitamindús
• vitaminhiány
• vitaminszegény

 

Further reading

• vitamin in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Indonesian

Etymology

From English vitamin, earlier vitamine, from Latin vīta (“life”) (see vital) + amine.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [viˈtamɪn]
• Hyphenation: vi‧ta‧min

Noun

vitamin (first-person possessive vitaminku, second-person possessive vitaminmu, third-person possessive vitaminnya)

1. vitamin: any of a specific group of organic compounds essential in small quantities for healthy human growth, metabolism, development, and body function; found in minute amounts in plant and animal foods or sometimes produced synthetically; deficiencies of specific vitamins produce specific disorders.

Further reading

• “vitamin” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Japanese

Romanization

vitamin

1. Rōmaji transcription of ヸタミン

Malay

Etymology

From English vitamin, earlier vitamine, from Latin vīta (“life”) (see vital) + amine.

Noun

vitamin (Jawi spelling ۏيتامين, plural vitamin-vitamin, informal 1st possessive vitaminku, 2nd possessive vitaminmu, 3rd possessive vitaminnya)

1. vitamin: any of a specific group of organic compounds essential in small quantities for healthy human growth, metabolism, development, and body function; found in minute amounts in plant and animal foods or sometimes produced synthetically; deficiencies of specific vitamins produce specific disorders.

Further reading

• “vitamin” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

vitamin n (definite singular vitaminet, indefinite plural vitamin or vitaminer, definite plural vitamina or vitaminene)

1. a vitamin

References

• “vitamin” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

vitamin n (definite singular vitaminet, indefinite plural vitamin, definite plural vitamina)

1. a vitamin

References

• “vitamin” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish ویتامین (vitamin), from French vitamine, from English vitamin.

Noun

vitamin (definite accusative vitamini, plural vitaminler)

1. vitamin

Declension

Inflection
Nominative	vitamin
Definite accusative	vitamini
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	vitamin	vitaminler
Definite accusative	vitamini	vitaminleri
Dative	vitamine	vitaminlere
Locative	vitaminde	vitaminlerde
Ablative	vitaminden	vitaminlerden
Genitive	vitaminin	vitaminlerin
Possessive forms Nominative Singular Plural 1st singular vitaminim vitaminlerim 2nd singular vitaminin vitaminlerin 3rd singular vitamini vitaminleri 1st plural vitaminimiz vitaminlerimiz 2nd plural vitamininiz vitaminleriniz 3rd plural vitaminleri vitaminleri Definite accusative Singular Plural 1st singular vitaminimi vitaminlerimi 2nd singular vitaminini vitaminlerini 3rd singular vitaminini vitaminlerini 1st plural vitaminimizi vitaminlerimizi 2nd plural vitamininizi vitaminlerinizi 3rd plural vitaminlerini vitaminlerini Dative Singular Plural 1st singular vitaminime vitaminlerime 2nd singular vitaminine vitaminlerine 3rd singular vitaminine vitaminlerine 1st plural vitaminimize vitaminlerimize 2nd plural vitamininize vitaminlerinize 3rd plural vitaminlerine vitaminlerine Locative Singular Plural 1st singular vitaminimde vitaminlerimde 2nd singular vitamininde vitaminlerinde 3rd singular vitamininde vitaminlerinde 1st plural vitaminimizde vitaminlerimizde 2nd plural vitamininizde vitaminlerinizde 3rd plural vitaminlerinde vitaminlerinde Ablative Singular Plural 1st singular vitaminimden vitaminlerimden 2nd singular vitamininden vitaminlerinden 3rd singular vitamininden vitaminlerinden 1st plural vitaminimizden vitaminlerimizden 2nd plural vitamininizden vitaminlerinizden 3rd plural vitaminlerinden vitaminlerinden Genitive Singular Plural 1st singular vitaminimin vitaminlerimin 2nd singular vitamininin vitaminlerinin 3rd singular vitamininin vitaminlerinin 1st plural vitaminimizin vitaminlerimizin 2nd plural vitamininizin vitaminlerinizin 3rd plural vitaminlerinin vitaminlerinin
Predicative forms Singular Plural 1st singular vitaminim vitaminlerim 2nd singular vitaminsin vitaminlersin 3rd singular vitamin vitamindir vitaminler vitaminlerdir 1st plural vitaminiz vitaminleriz 2nd plural vitaminsiniz vitaminlersiniz 3rd plural vitaminler vitaminlerdir

Derived terms

• vitaminli
• vitaminsiz