thymine

Etymology

From thymus + -ine. Thymine was first isolated in 1893 by Albrecht Kossel and Albert Neumann from calves' thymus glands, hence its name.

noun

  1. (organic chemistry, genetics) A heterocyclic base, 5-methylpyrimidine-2,4(1H,3H)-dione; it pairs with adenine in DNA.
    Then he found them, the substances that made up the four-letter alphabet in whose language all life is written — adenine and cytosine, guanine and thymine. 1997, Ian McEwan, Enduring Love, Vintage (1998), page 164

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