testosterone

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Testosteron, coined in 1935 by K. David and his colleagues in the “Zeitschrift für physiologische Chemie”,^[2][3] from Latin testis (“testicle”), sterol and the chemical suffix -one.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Barnhart, Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com treat it as an English formation from the same parts, with the connecting vowel -o-;^[5][6][7] the Oxford dictionaries analyse the ending as -sterone, a blend of sterol and ketone.^[8][9][2] Klein takes the first part from testēs, the plural of testis.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A steroid hormone that brings about the development of male sexual characteristics, produced mainly in the testes: 1935, in Chemical Abstracts.^[2][11][3]

Semantic evolution

From 1937 the name was also used for its propionic ester, testosterone propionate, given by injection as a longer-lasting form of the hormone.^[2][12] Merriam-Webster also records a figurative sense for qualities such as brawn and aggressiveness thought of as typically male.^[13]

Timeline

• 1935 – German Testosteron, and the English word in Chemical Abstracts.^[2][3]
• 1937 – testosterone propionate.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A steroid hormone produced mainly in the testes, and in much smaller amounts in the ovaries and adrenal cortex, that causes the development of male secondary sexual characteristics; it is also made synthetically for medical use.^[12][14][6]
2. Qualities such as brawn and aggressiveness, regarded as typically male: The meeting was all testosterone and no listening.^[13]

Word family

• methyltestosterone

Related words

• testis
• testicle
• sterol
• ketone

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 c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins