Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A complex molecule containing one or more macrocyclic ring components encircling a rodlike component that has end groups large enough to prevent the molecule from dissociating into its component parts.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun chemistry any complex of two molecules, one of which has the form of a ring, the other having the form of a rod, passing through the ring, and having end-groups too large to pass through the ring

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin rota, wheel; see ret- in Indo-European roots + Latin axis, axle + –ane.]

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