Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Lipase
/ˈlaɪpeɪz/noun
An enzyme that breaks fats down into fatty acids and glycerol.
The Greek roots
λίπος
lípos
fat, grease
Literally: “fat-splitter”
Follow a root:λίπος3 words
The story of the word
The tail is not Greek at all. Payen and Persoz named diastase in 1833, chemists took the last syllables as a badge meaning enzyme, and every later enzyme got the same treatment: amylase from starch, protease from protein, lipase from fat. Claude Bernard showed in 1846 that pancreatic juice splits fat, which is the activity the name records.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- late 19th century
Same family
lipidliposuctionlipoproteinlipoma
In a sentence
A raised serum lipase points to the pancreas rather than the liver.
Detergent makers add lipase so the wash can attack grease at low temperatures.