English
avidin
Avidin comes from Latin avidus ‘hungry’, from aveō ‘wish, desire, long for, crave’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- ‘to enjoy’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ew-1‘to enjoy’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ew-eh₁yeti1reconstructedderived within Proto-Indo-European
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaveō1‘wish, desire, long for, crave’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEavidus2‘hungry’
- Englishtodayavidin2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin avidus
- 2 Wiktionary, English avidin
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ew-Wiktionary, Latin avidus‘to enjoy’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ew-eh₁yetiWiktionary, Latin avidusreconstructedderived within Proto-Indo-European
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaveōWiktionary, Latin avidus‘wish, desire, long for, crave’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEavidusWiktionary, English avidin‘hungry’
- EnglishtodayavidinWiktionary, English avidin
Formed from in
Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’
Proto-Germanic *in
Proto-West Germanic *in
Old English in
Middle English in ‘inside’
English in
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- ‘to enjoy’
love, audience, egg, ear, acoustic, oval, obey, audit, aviation, anesthesia, ey, ovation, audible, auspicious, aural, avian, aviator, otolaryngology, ocarina, aviary, 66 more
through Latin aveō ‘wish, desire, long for, crave’
through Latin avidus ‘hungry’
Today it means
noun A tetrameric protein produced in the oviducts of birds, reptiles and amphibians and deposited in the whites of their eggs.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “avidin”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin avidus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- / avidin