Word.ws English Dictionary

tryptophan

/ˈtɹɪptə(ʊ)fæn/

tryptophan noun: an essential amino acid with an indole side chain; present in many foods, especially chocolate, oats, banana and milk; it is essential for normal growth and development and is the precursor of serotonin and niacin; any specific form of this compound, or any derivative of it.

Noun

tryptophan (countable and uncountable, plural tryptophans)

  1. An essential amino acid with an indole side chain; present in many foods, especially chocolate, oats, banana and milk; it is essential for normal growth and development and is the precursor of serotonin and niacin; any specific form of this compound, or any derivative of it.
    • The quickest way to raise serotonin levels again is to send more tryptophan into the brain, because serotonin is made from tryptophan.1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Perennial, published 2004, page 169
    • Tryptophan is an amino acid found in many foods, including dairy and turkey, which is one of the reasons commonly given for why so many of us feel so sleepy after our Thanksgiving feasts.2020 December 10, Anahad O’Connor, “How Foods May Affect Our Sleep”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

tryptophan meaning in Tamil, Persian and Thai

tryptophan in Tamil

ட்ரிப்டோபன் அவசிய அமினோ அமிலம், டிரிப்டோபென்

tryptophan in Persian

essential amino acid
تریپتوفان teriptofân

tryptophan in Thai

essential amino acid
ทริปโตเฟน

Forms of tryptophan

pluraltryptophans

Origin of tryptophan

From German Tryptophan, from Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō, “to appear”).

Words formed from tryptophan

Questions about tryptophan

What does tryptophan mean?
Tryptophan means an essential amino acid with an indole side chain; present in many foods, especially chocolate, oats, banana and milk; it is essential for normal growth and development and is the precursor of serotonin and niacin; any specific form of this compound, or any derivative of it.
What is tryptophan in Tamil?
Tryptophan in Tamil is ட்ரிப்டோபன் அவசிய அமினோ அமிலம், டிரிப்டோபென். See Tryptophan meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is tryptophan?
Tryptophan is a noun.
How do you pronounce tryptophan?
Tryptophan is pronounced /ˈtɹɪptə(ʊ)fæn/ (UK).
What is the plural of tryptophan?
The plural of tryptophan is tryptophans.

Words near tryptophan in the dictionary

  1. tryptique
  2. tryptiques
  3. tryptoline
  4. tryptone
  5. tryptones
  6. tryptophan
  7. tryptophan synthase
  8. tryptophan synthetase
  9. tryptophanamide
  10. tryptophanase
  11. tryptophanases

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tryptophan (page history and authors); tryptophan (Tamil Wiktionary) (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Tesco250-tryptophan.wav.

Cite this entry: “tryptophan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tryptophan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.