Standard Lemma guide

carnitine

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɑː.nɪt.iːn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈkɑɹ.nəˌtiːn/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A betaine, 3-hydroxy-4-trimethylammonio-butanoate, that is found in the liver and has a function in fatty acid transport.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, organic-chemistry, physical-sciences

Examples

  • 2014, Peggy R. Borum, Carnitine homeostasis in humans, Benjamin Toby Wall, Craig Porter (editors), Carnitine Metabolism and Human Nutrition, page 4, Carnitine likely functions in maintaining homeostasis in many metabolic pathways and physiological conditions, with carnitine's role in energy metabolism homeostasis being the best studied.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From German Carnitin, coined from Latin carn- + Latin -i- + -t- (“arbitrary insertion”) + -in, for it was first described in meat extracts in 1905. By surface analysis, Latin carnit- + -ine.

Across languages

Translations

3 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Esperanto: karnitino — an organic compound
  • Italian: carnitina — an organic compound
  • Japanese: カルニチン (karunichin) — an organic compound