receptor English · revision 39627

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1450, Jacob's Well|origins=la recipiō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ɹɪˈsɛp.tə/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|xno|receptour]], [[m|xno|receptur]], and [[frm|recepteur|t=a person who harbours criminals]], recorded in Anglo-Norman from about 1292 or earlier,^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(AND) and of their source [[la|receptor|t=a person who receives into shelter or hiding]],^(OED 2026)^(Klein 1966) an agent noun formed with [[m|la|-or]] on [[m|la|receptus]], the past participle of [[m|la|recipiō|t=to receive, hold]],^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline) the verb behind [[receive]].^(Etymonline)^(ODE 2010) In its modern scientific senses the word was taken afresh from Latin;^(OED 2026) the immunological sense follows [[de|Receptor]], used by Paul Ehrlich in 1900,^(OED 2026) and the Oxford Dictionary of English describes the word as coined in German in the early 20th century.^(ODE 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A person who harbours criminals or receives stolen goods: c. 1450, in ''Jacob's Well''.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) Etymonline dates the word to the mid-15th century, and in Anglo-French to the late 13th.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The legal sense, a receiver of criminals or of stolen goods, died out by about 1700,^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) after which the word was rare until the late 19th century, when it was briefly used for the receiver of a telephone (1898).^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) Its modern life began in the sciences around 1900: Ehrlich's receptors were molecules that bind a toxin or other foreign substance, at first equated with antibodies;^(OED 2026) in 1906 the physiologist Sherrington used the word for an organ or nerve ending that responds to a stimulus,^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024) and since 1910 it has named a molecule in a cell that binds a particular drug, hormone or neurotransmitter.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * about 1292 – Anglo-Norman ''receptur'', a harbourer of criminals.^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1450 – a person who harbours criminals or stolen goods (obsolete by 1700).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1898 – (rare) the receiver of a telephone.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1900 – (immunology) a molecule that binds a toxin or foreign substance.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1906 – (physiology) an organ or nerve ending that responds to stimuli.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1910 – (physiology) a molecule that binds a drug, hormone or neurotransmitter.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # (physiology) An [[organ]], [[cell]] or [[nerve]] ending that responds to a particular kind of [[stimulus]], such as light, heat or pressure, and passes it on as nerve impulses.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # (biochemistry) A [[molecule]], usually a [[protein]] in or on a cell, that binds a specific substance such as a [[hormone]], drug or [[neurotransmitter]] and so causes a response in the cell.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # A device that receives signals or information.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[adrenoreceptor]]

+ * [[chemoreceptor]]

+ * [[electroreceptor]]

+ * [[mechanoreceptor]]

+ * [[thermoreceptor]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[effector]]

+ * [[receive]]

+ * [[receiver]]

+ * [[reception]]

+ * [[receptacle]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}