theophylline
UK/θi.əˈfɪl.iːn/US/θiˈɑf.əl.ɪn/
theophylline noun: a bitter crystalline compound present in small quantities in tea leaves, isomeric with theobromine; used as a drug in therapy for respiratory diseases.
Noun
theophylline (uncountable)
- A bitter crystalline compound present in small quantities in tea leaves, isomeric with theobromine; used as a drug in therapy for respiratory diseases.
Origin of theophylline
From Translingual Thea (“former genus name for the tea plant”) + Ancient Greek φύλλον (phúllon, “leaf”) + English -ine.
Words formed from theophylline
Words that rhyme with theophylline
- penicillin
- -cillin
- amoxicillin
- ampicillin
- benzylpenicillin
- carbenicillin
- carindacillin
- cloxacillin
- dicloxacillin
- methicillin
- meticillin
- nafcillin
4 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about theophylline
- What does theophylline mean?
- Theophylline means a bitter crystalline compound present in small quantities in tea leaves, isomeric with theobromine; used as a drug in therapy for respiratory diseases.
- What part of speech is theophylline?
- Theophylline is a noun.
- How do you pronounce theophylline?
- Theophylline is pronounced /θi.əˈfɪl.iːn/ (UK).
Words near theophylline in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: theophylline (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “theophylline.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/theophylline. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.