2388: How the Vitamins got their Names Jul 2, 2021

While the need for vitamins is a basic one, the naming of them is only misleadingly basic. Vitamins A, B, C, D, and E are all named simply in order of their discovery, starting in 1912. After this however, the list skips right to K, which has its name for two reason. On the one hand, mainly this is because it was what was available, though now F-J have all been renamed, either as mere variants of other vitamins—particularly of vitamin B—or were false discoveries. Others have suggested this is from the German word 'koagulation' since it was discovered in Germany and helps with blood coagulation. Even if this is true, it is not as relevant as the first reason though. Other anomalies include a lack of vitamin N, Q, R, or T despite there being vitamins P, S, and U.