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thymine

Noun
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

One of the four nitrogenous pyrimidine bases found in DNA; referenced in contemporary science-infused poetry to symbolize life's code.

Detailed Definition
Thymine is a nitrogenous base found in DNA, where it pairs with adenine. The poem names it as part of the base-pairing code that makes the double helix work.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Adenine with thymine, guanine with cytosine” brings molecular science into poetic diction; Thymine is the DNA base that pairs with adenine; “Thymine’s small rung” can imagine genetic code as a ladder; Scientific nouns can make intimacy, inheritance, or identity newly visible
Additional Notes
The word appears in a scientific context and is specialized biological vocabulary rather than everyday English.; Found in the poem, The Double Helix by Richard
Also Known As
T nucleobase genetic letter pyrimidine
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