Sport & ContestGreek → English
Agonist
/ˈæɡənɪst/noun
A muscle that drives a movement, or a substance that activates a receptor.
The Greek roots
ἀγών
agṓn
contest, struggle
Literally: “one who competes”
Follow a root:ἀγών2 words
The story of the word
ἀγών was first the gathering, then the contest held at the gathering, then any struggle at all. The protagonist is the competitor who goes first, the antagonist the one who competes against him, and agony is ἀγωνία, the anguish while the result is still open. Physiology and pharmacology took the word for the muscle that produces a movement and for a drug that switches a receptor on, and in both fields it still works against an antagonist.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
antagonistprotagonistagonyagonise
In a sentence
In a bicep curl the biceps is the agonist and the triceps has to let go.
The drug is a partial agonist, which is why the ceiling effect matters.