Steroid Nomenclature

Perhaps not obvious at first glance, there is a naming convention in place that was used to create identities for the various anabolic/androgenic steroid hormones. This typically involves forming a root word to convey the structural base of the steroid, and signifying other unique structural characteristics by including appropriate prefixes or suffixes. Below, we will look at the common roots, prefixes, and suffixes used in steroid nomenclature, and identify them, as they are used in the various commercial compound names. As you will see, the adoption of names like nandrolone, methandrostenolone, and ethylestrenol were not as arbitrary as one might imagine. This section is also helpful if you wish to understand the deeper chemical designations for the various substances that one might find in the medical literature, which involve the exclusive use of this terminology (such as is the representation of methandrostenolone as 17b-hydroxy-17a-methylandrosta-1, 4-dien3-one)