penicillin

English

Etymology

From translingual Penicillium +‎ -in. Coined by Alexander Fleming after Penicillium notatum (now Penicillium chrysogenum), a fungus from which penicillin is obtained.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˌpɛn.ɪˈsɪl.ɪn/

Noun

penicillin (countable and uncountable, plural penicillins)

(pharmacology) Any of a group of narrow-spectrum antibiotics obtained from Penicillium molds or synthesized, that have a beta-lactam structure and are active against gram-positive bacteria and used in the treatment of various infections and diseases.
(mycology) A blue mold of the genus Penicillium that produces penicillin.

Derived terms

benzathine penicillin
benzylpenicillin, penicillin G
-cillin (“antibiotic”)
isopenicillin
penicillinic acid
phenoxymethylpenicillin, penicillin V
procaine penicillin

Translations

antibiotic

Arabic: بِنِسِلِين‎ m (binisilīn)
Egyptian: بينسيلين‎ m
Basque: penizilina
Belarusian: пеніцылі́н m (pjenicylín)
Bulgarian: пеницили́н m (penicilín)
Catalan: penicil·lina (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 青黴素／青霉素 (zh) (qīngméisù), 盤尼西林／盘尼西林 (zh) (pánníxīlín)
Czech: penicilín (cs) m
Danish: penicillin c or n
Dutch: penicilline (nl)
Esperanto: penicilino
Faroese: penicillin
Finnish: penisilliini (fi)
French: pénicilline (fr) f
Georgian: პენიცილინი (ṗenicilini)
German: Penicillin (de) n, Penizillin (de) n
Greek: πενικιλίνη (el) f (penikilíni)
Hebrew: פניצילין‎ (he)
Hindi: पेनिसिलिन (hi) (penisilin)
Hungarian: penicillin (hu)
Icelandic: penisillín
Ido: penicilino (io)
Indonesian: penisilin (id)
Italian: penicillina (it) f
Japanese: ペニシリン (penishirin)
Kazakh: пенициллин (penisillin)
Khmer: ប៉េនីស៊ីលីន (pâyniseelin)
Korean: 페니실린 (penisillin)
Lithuanian: penicilinas
Macedonian: пеницили́н m (penicilín)
Marathi: पेनिसिलिन (penisilin)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: penicillin n
Nynorsk: penicillin n
Occitan: penicillina f
Persian: پنیسیلین‎ (fa) (penisilin)
Polish: penicylina (pl) f
Portuguese: penicilina (pt) f
Romanian: penicilină (ro) f
Russian: пеницилли́н (ru) m (penicillín)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: пеницилин m
Roman: penicilin (sh) m
Slovak: penicilín m
Slovene: penicilin m
Spanish: penicilina f
Swedish: penicillin (sv)
Tamil: பெனிசிலின் (peṉiciliṉ)
Telugu: పెన్సిలిన్ (te) (pensilin)
Thai: เพนิซิลลิน (pâynísíllin)
Tibetan: པན་ནི་སི་ལིན་ (pan ni si lin)
Turkish: penisilin (tr)
Ukrainian: пеніцилі́н m (penicylín)
Vietnamese: penicillin (vi)

References

“penicillin”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
“penicillin”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin Penicillium.

Noun

penicillin n (definite singular penicillinet, indefinite plural penicillin, definite plural penicillina or penicillinene)

penicillin

References

“penicillin” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin Penicillium.

Noun

penicillin n (definite singular penicillinet, indefinite plural penicillin, definite plural penicillina)

penicillin

References

“penicillin” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.