purine Hear it!

purine definition

pu·rine (pyo̵or′ēn′, -in)

noun

  1. a colorless, crystalline organic compound, CHN, the parent substance of the uric-acid group of compounds
  2. any of several basic substances produced by the decomposition of nucleoproteins and having a purine-type molecule, as caffeine, adenine, or guanine

Etymology: Ger purin < L purus, pure + ModL uricum, uric acid + -in, -ine

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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