urea
nounUK /jʊˈɹiːə/ · CA, US /jʊˈɹiə/
Etymology From New Latin, from French urée, from Ancient Greek οὖρον (oûron, “urine”).
1
Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Microbiology, Natural sciences, Organic chemistry, Physical sciences A water-soluble organic compound, CO(NH₂)₂, formed by the metabolism of proteins and excreted in the urine.
- Five of them — Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — supply more than a third of the world’s urea, an important nitrogen fertilizer, and nearly a quarter of another one, ammonia. […] Over the past week, the price of urea sold in Egypt, a market that economists track closely, climbed more than 35 percent.2026 March 9, Sam Sifton, “The War’s Effect on the Supermarket”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 09 Mar 2026:
2
Chemistry, Natural sciences, Organic chemistry, Physical sciences Any N-substituted derivative of urea, with the general formula (R₁R₂N)CO(NR₃R₄).
- Synonyms
- carbamide
- Derived terms
46 terms
alkylurea, alpha-naphthylthiourea, bisurea, bromerguride, bromovalerylurea, carbamylurea, carburazepam, diallylurea, dicyclohexylurea, dimethylurea, diphenylurea, glibornuride, glyburide, glycolylurea, hydroxyurea, imidazolidinyl urea, isourea, malonylurea, methylol urea, nitrosoethylurea, nitrosourea, nitrourea, nonurea, oligourea, phenylthiourea, polyurea, pseudourea, selenourea, sulfonylurea, sulfourea, suramin, tetramethylurea, thiourea, triurea, uraemia, urea cycle, urea-formaldehyde, ureagenesis, ureal, urealytic, ureameter, ureametry, urease, ureic, ureido-, uremia- Related terms
- biuret