ribonucleic (adj.)

1892, from German Ribose (1891), from Ribonsäure, a tetrahydroxy acid, with first element shortened and arbitrarily rearranged from English arabinose (c. 1880), a sugar which is so called because it is formed from gum arabic.

"referring to a nucleus," 1892, in nucleic acid, which is a translation of German Nukleinsäure (1889), from Nuklein "substance obtained from a cell nucleus" (see nucleus + -in (2)) + -ic.

1948, abbreviation of ribonucleic acid (see ribonucleic).