estrogen

Etymology

It was formed in 1927 from English estrus + -o- + -gen (“producing”),^[2][3][4][5] so named for the hormone's ability to bring on the heat of female animals.^[3][2] Merriam-Webster treats it as an international scientific word,^[6] and Cresswell says the name was coined by the pharmaceutical company that patented the hormone.^[7] The noun estrus is from Latin oestrus (“frenzy, gadfly”),^[8][3] from Ancient Greek οἶστρος (oîstros, “gadfly; sting; frenzy, mad impulse”),^[8][3][7] perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eys-, a root that formed words for passion and also gave ire.^[3][8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A female sex hormone: 1927.^[3][2][6][7] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1925–30.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The name described what the hormone does in animals, bringing on estrus; it was soon applied to the whole group of such hormones and to natural or synthetic substances with the same effect, used to treat menopausal and menstrual disorders and in contraceptives.^[5][6] Derivatives such as oestrogenic and oestrogenized followed in the mid 20th century.^[5]

Timeline

• 1927 – a female sex hormone that brings on estrus.^[3][2][6][7]
• mid 20th century – oestrogenic, of the nature of an oestrogen.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of a group of steroid hormones, such as estradiol, produced chiefly by the ovaries, that bring on oestrus and control the development of female sexual characteristics and the menstrual cycle.^[6][9][5]
2. A natural or synthetic substance with similar effects, used in medicine and in contraceptives.^[6][5]

Word family

• estrogenic
• estrogenically
• antiestrogen
• antiestrogenic
• phytoestrogen

Related words

• estrus
• estrone
• estradiol
• -gen

Usage notes

The usual British spelling is oestrogen, the American estrogen.^[9][6][7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f 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 e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins