Word.ws English Dictionary

tryptophans

tryptophans is the plural of tryptophan.

Meaning of tryptophan

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

Questions about tryptophans

What is tryptophans the plural of?
Tryptophans is the plural of tryptophan.

Words near tryptophans in the dictionary

  1. tryptophanate
  2. tryptophanates
  3. tryptophandione
  4. tryptophane
  5. tryptophanes
  6. tryptophans
  7. tryptophanyl
  8. tryptophanylation
  9. tryptophanyls
  10. tryptophol
  11. tryptophyl

Source and license

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

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