Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Glucagon
/ˈɡluːkəɡɒn/noun
A pancreatic hormone that raises blood sugar by releasing glucose stored in the liver.
The Greek roots
γλυκύς
glykýs
sweet
ἄγειν
ágein
to lead, to drive
Literally: “sugar driver”
The story of the word
Insulin's opposite number was first noticed in 1923 as a nuisance: pancreatic extracts sometimes pushed blood sugar up before bringing it down, and the researchers named the culprit for what it did, driving glucose out of store. The second half is ἄγειν, to lead, the verb behind agony, which for the Greeks was a contest, and behind protagonist, the first man led onto the stage. Purification and a full sequence took until the 1950s.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1923
Same family
glucoseglycogenagonyprotagonist
In a sentence
Her brother keeps a glucagon pen in the glove compartment.
Glucagon and insulin work against each other all day without anyone noticing.