Hormones

How to spell hormones

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce hormones

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does hormones mean?

1. nounChemical substances produced by the body that travel through the bloodstream to regulate the activity of organs and tissues.

Hormones in a sentence

• The doctor explained that stress can raise certain hormones in the blood.

• Changing hormones during adolescence affect both mood and growth.

Where does hormones come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek verb horman, meaning 'to set in motion', 'to urge on', or 'to stimulate', which itself came from horme, a noun for impulse or eager onset. The English physiologist Ernest Starling coined the singular 'hormone' in 1905, drawing on the present participle hormon ('setting in motion') to name the chemical messengers the body releases to spur organs into action. The idea behind the name is wonderfully literal: hormones are substances that stir the body's systems into activity from a distance. The chemical ending '-one' (as seen in compounds like 'ketone' and 'testosterone') was a natural fit for a biochemical term. The spelling stays close to its Greek root, which is why the 'h' at the front is sounded and the 'or' carries the stress, helping anchor the word in memory.

How the word is built

• horm- (from Greek horman: to set in motion, urge on)
• -one (suffix used for certain organic compounds)
• -s (plural)