Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Keratin
/ˈkɛrətɪn/noun
The tough fibrous protein that builds hair, nails, horn, hoof and the outer skin.
The Greek roots
κέρας
kéras
horn
Literally: “horn-substance”
Follow a root:κέρας5 words
The story of the word
Named in the 1840s from the Greek for horn, because horn is very nearly pure keratin, as are claw, feather, hoof and fingernail. The same κέρας is inside rhinoceros, nose-horn, and triceratops. It also gives carat: κεράτιον, a little horn, was the carob seed jewellers used as a counterweight, and the word reached English through Arabic.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1840s
Same family
rhinoceroskeratitiscarattriceratops
In a sentence
Hair is dead keratin, which is why cutting it does not hurt.