insulin
Pluralinsulins (some meanings)
- 1A polypeptide hormone that regulates how the body processes carbohydrates in humans and other animals.
The pancreas releases insulin in response to rising blood glucose after eating.
Without enough insulin, glucose builds up in the bloodstream instead of entering cells.
Note
An island hides in the name: Latin īnsula, "island," plus the suffix -in, because the hormone is produced in the islets of Langerhans. In everyday writing this sense is the body's own supply, as when a body "stops making its own insulin." It also heads technical compounds such as insulin sensitivity, meaning how readily the body responds to it. When the talk turns to vials and prices, the word has shifted to the medication.
- 2A preparation of the hormone insulin produced outside the body and used as a medication.
The clinic ran short of insulin during the supply disruption.
He learned to draw insulin into a syringe before each meal.
- 3A preparation of the hormone insulin or its laboratory-made analogues, used as a medication.
Long-acting insulin keeps glucose steady overnight, while rapid types cover individual meals.
Modern formulations of insulin are engineered to mimic the body's natural release pattern.
Note
Strictly, the word covers only the hormone itself. In clinic talk it stretches to engineered analogues as well. Asked "What kind of insulin do you take?", a patient may answer glargine and lispro, which are modified molecules rather than the hormone as the body makes it. Careful writing calls these insulin analogues and keeps them apart from the narrower medical sense. Ordinary speech folds them all into insulin.
Practice
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Origin
Formed from Latin "insula" ("island") plus the suffix "-in," named after the islets of Langerhans, the parts of the body where insulin is produced.