Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Lipolysis
/lɪˈpɒlɪsɪs/noun
The breakdown of stored fat into fatty acids and glycerol for use as fuel.
The Greek roots
λίπος
lípos
fat, grease
λύσις
lýsis
a loosening, breaking up
Literally: “loosening of fat”
The story of the word
λύσις is a loosening, the untying of a knot, and it turns up wherever something is taken apart: analysis loosens a problem into pieces, paralysis is a loosening down one side, electrolysis pulls compounds apart with current. Physiologists borrowed the pattern in the early twentieth century once they could measure fat leaving adipose tissue. Fasting, adrenaline and endurance exercise all push the same switch.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 20th century
Same family
analysisparalysisliposuctionlipid
In a sentence
After about ninety minutes of steady effort, lipolysis supplies a growing share of the fuel.