collagen

Etymology

It is borrowed from French collagène,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Ancient Greek κόλλα (kólla, “glue”) and the French suffix -gène, English -gen,^[2][4][7] taken in the sense "producing".^[2] Klein gives the suffix as -γενής (-genḗs, “born of”).^[8] The OED notes that the regular form would have been collogen, compare κολλοπώλης (kollopṓlēs, “glue dealer”);^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster record it as a less common variant.^[6][9] Merriam-Webster treats the word as International Scientific Vocabulary.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A fibrous protein of connective tissue that yields gelatin on boiling: about 1865, in J. Wylde's Circle of the Sciences.^[2][3][9] Etymonline dates the word earlier, to 1843.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The name, "glue-producing", refers to the gelatin, a kind of glue, that the protein yields when it is boiled.^[2][5][10]

Timeline

• c. 1865 – a fibrous protein of connective tissue that yields gelatin.^[2][3][9] Etymonline dates it to 1843.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An insoluble fibrous protein, the chief constituent of connective tissue such as skin, tendons and the organic part of bone, which yields gelatin when boiled.^[9][10][2]

Word family

• collagenic
• collagenous
• collagenase
• tropocollagen
• collagen disease

Related words

• colloid
• protocol

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins