Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

cytosine

/ˈsaɪtəsiːn/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: 2.22 in modern English

Syllables: cy-to-sine
IPA: /ˈsaɪtəsiːn/

13

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

3

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A heterocyclic base, 4-aminopyrimidin-2(1H)-one, which pairs with guanine in DNA and RNA (by means of three hydrogen bonds).

Example Sentences

"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."

Etymology

After German Cytosin, equivalent to Ancient Greek κύτος (kútos) + -ine. Cytosine was discovered and named by the German biochemists Albrecht Kossel and Albert Neumann in 1894 when it was hydrolyzed from calf thymus tissues.

Origin

Source language: German

Word Breakdown

Root: Cytosin, κύτος

Inflected Forms

cytosines (plural)

Derived Forms

arabinosylcytosine azacytosine cidofovir cytarabine deoxycytosine fluorocytosine hydroxymethylcytosine methylcytosine polycytosine thiocytosine

Phrases

cytosine arabinoside cytidylic acid

Frequently Paired Words

cytidine cytidylate cytidylic acid adenine guanine thymine uracil

Synonyms

c

Questions

How do you pronounce cytosine?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈsaɪtəsiːn/.
What does cytosine mean?: A heterocyclic base, 4-aminopyrimidin-2(1H)-one, which pairs with guanine in DNA and RNA (by means of three hydrogen bonds).
Where does cytosine come from?: It is traced to German.

How to pronounce cytosine

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “cytosine”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈsaɪtəsiːn/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “cytosine”.
Repeat and practice — Say “cytosine” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.