cortisol

Etymology

It is formed from English cortisone + -ol, from the first part of cortisone and the chemical suffix.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} The American Heritage Dictionary takes the suffix as the one taken from alcohol,^[5] while Chambers derives it from Latin oleum (“oil”).^[8] The name cortisone is a shortening of the chemical name of the hormone, corticosterone,^[5][7] and goes back to Latin cortex (“bark, outer covering”), because the substance was obtained from the outer layer of the adrenal glands.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adrenal hormone also called hydrocortisone: Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1951,^[4][9] and the OED's first quotation is from 1953, in the Annual Review of Biochemistry.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the name was chosen as a shorter and clearer alternative to hydrocortisone,^[7] itself recorded from 1951.^[2][7] The OED, the Shorter Oxford and Collins still define it simply as another name for hydrocortisone,^[2][3][11] while Merriam-Webster Unabridged describes the hormone's work in the body and adds that its level in the blood can rise with physical or psychological stress.^[4]

Timeline

• 1951 – the hormone hydrocortisone.^[4][9] The OED's first quotation is from 1953.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A glucocorticoid steroid hormone made by the adrenal cortex, which regulates metabolism, reduces inflammation and is released in larger amounts under stress; hydrocortisone.^{[4][9][12][11][2]}

Related words

• cortisone
• hydrocortisone
• cortex
• cortical
• corticosterone

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin