ácido desoxirribonucleico
/aθido desoɡsiribonukleiko/from spelling rulesmasculine
The English phrase deoxyribonucleic acid is ácido desoxirribonucleico in Spanish.
Meaning: deoxyribonucleic acid (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
Because the noun is masculine, you must use the masculine article el instead of the feminine la when saying el ácido desoxirribonucleico.
How do you pronounce it?
/aθido desoɡsiribonukleiko/
Did you know?
- In Spanish, the word nucleico derives from núcleo, which refers to both a cell nucleus and the core of a fruit.
- The word ácido is a learned borrowing from the Latin word acidus, which originally meant 'sour'.
- In casual scientific conversation, Spanish speakers rarely use the full term ácido desoxirribonucleico and instead use the acronym ADN.
Examples in context
- El ADN es como nuestra huella genética, una molécula de la vida que nos hace únicos.DNA is like our genetic fingerprint, a molecule of life that makes us unique.
- El ácido desoxirribonucleico contiene la información genética.Deoxyribonucleic acid contains genetic information.
- Estamos estudiando la estructura del ácido desoxirribonucleico.We are studying the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid.
- El ácido desoxirribonucleico es fundamental para la biología.Deoxyribonucleic acid is fundamental for biology.
Example conversation
Two students are discussing a biology assignment in class.
- AlejandroMaría, ¿sabes qué es el ácido desoxirribonucleico?María, do you know what deoxyribonucleic acid is?
- MaríaSí, Alejandro, es lo que llamamos ADN.Yes, Alejandro, it is what we call DNA.
- AlejandroEs un nombre muy largo para aprender.It is a very long name to learn.
- MaríaEs verdad, pero es importante para el examen.That's true, but it is important for the exam.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “deoxyribonucleic acid” translations and entries ácido desoxirribonucleico, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries ácido, CC BY-SA 4.0.
