hormone

Where does the word "hormone" come from? It comes from Greek hormôn, and was adopted directly into English (1905).

Hormone’s story begins in Greek: hormôn meant “urging on.” 'setting in motion', present participle of horman 'to urge on'. It reached English by 1905 as hormone. The physiologist Ernest Starling introduced it in his Croonian Lectures of 1905 for chemical messengers carried in the blood, such as secretin, which he and William Bayliss had discovered in 1902. Today, hormone means a substance produced by the body that is carried in the blood to regulate cells.

1. Stage 1 · Greek · ancient hormôn "urging on", 'setting in motion', present participle of horman 'to urge on'.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1905 hormone "chemical messenger", the physiologist Ernest Starling introduced it in his Croonian Lectures of 1905 for chemical messengers carried in the blood, such as secretin, which he and William Bayliss had discovered in 1902.