Nucleosides

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of molecule consisting of a nitrogenous base attached to a sugar, which forms a building block of nucleic acids in cells
2. A compound made up of a sugar and a nucleobase, crucial for DNA and RNA structure
3. These essential components play a significant role in cellular processes such as metabolism and signal transduction

Etymology: "Nucleosides" is the plural of "nucleoside," a compound coined in chemistry from two combining forms. The first, "nucleo-," comes from "nucleus," Latin for a kernel or core, and in chemistry it points to the nucleic-acid material of the cell nucleus. The second part, "-oside," is a chemical suffix from "glycoside," itself built on the Greek "glykys," meaning sweet, a sugar-bearing compound, so "-oside" marks a sugar joined to another molecule. Put together, the name describes exactly what the molecule is: a nucleic-acid base attached to a sugar, with no phosphate group. The word was formed by analogy with "glycoside," so it is a technical coinage rather than an old word that shifted in meaning, and the exact date of its first use is uncertain.

Synonyms: nucleotides, biomolecules