hormone English · revision 39374

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1905, E. H. Starling in the Lancet|origins=grc ὁρμή}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈhɔːməʊn/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈhoɹmoʊn/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[der|grc|ὁρμῶν|tr=hormôn|t=setting in motion]], the present participle of [[m|grc|ὁρμάω|tr=hormáō|t=to set in motion, urge on]],^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(AHD 2024) with its ending made to match the chemical suffix [[m|en|-one]].^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) The verb comes from [[m|grc|ὁρμή|tr=hormḗ|t=onset, impulse]],^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) which Etymonline and the AHD trace to [[ine-pro|*er-|t=to move, set in motion]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024) and Klein to [[ine-pro|*ser-|t=to run, flow]], the root of [[serum]].^(Klein 1966) Barnhart and Merriam-Webster relate it to [[m|grc|ὄρνυμι|tr=órnumi|t=to rouse]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An organic compound secreted into the body fluids by one group of cells that regulates the activity of others: 1905, in a paper by the physiologist Ernest Starling in the ''Lancet''.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) Etymonline notes that Hippocrates had used the Greek word for a vital principle.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From 1911 the word was also applied to plants, for compounds that regulate growth, and to synthetic substances with the same effect.^(OED 2026)^(Collins 2023) For a time (from 1914) some physiologists restricted it to compounds that stimulate rather than inhibit; that use is now rare.^(OED 2026) In the plural, ''hormones'' are a person's sex hormones seen as the cause of moods or behaviour,^(COED 2004) and American campus slang of the 1980s called a sexually forward person a ''hormone''.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1905 – Starling's term in physiology.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1911 – plant hormones.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1914 – restricted to stimulating compounds (now rare).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1989 – US campus slang, a sexually aggressive person.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A substance made by specialized cells, often in an [[endocrine gland]], and carried in the blood to regulate the action of particular cells or [[tissue|alt=tissues]].^(COED 2004)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A compound made by a plant that regulates its [[growth]]; also a [[synthetic]] substance with the same effect.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # ''(hormones, plural)'' A person's sex hormones, thought of as influencing mood or behaviour.^(COED 2004)

+ # ''(US slang)'' A sexually aggressive person.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[hormonal]]

+ * [[hormonally]]

+ * [[hormonelike]]

+ * [[antihormone]]

+ * [[neurohormone]]

+ * [[parathormone]]

+ * [[phytohormone]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[serum]]

+ * [[endocrine]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}