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penicillin.

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.

10 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˌpɛn.ɪˈsɪl.ɪn/
  1. 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.

    countable · uncountable
  2. A blue mold of the genus Penicillium that produces penicillin.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pes- Proto-Indo-European *pes-ni-s Proto-Italic *peznis Latin pēnis Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Proto-Italic *-kelos Latin -culus Latin pēniculus ▲ Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -lus Latin -illum Latin pēnicillum Translingual -ium Translingual Penicillium Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos Proto-Italic *-īnos Latin -īnusder. Old French -inbor. Middle English -in English -ineclip. English -in English penicillin From translingual Penicillium + -in. Coined by Alexander Fleming after Penicillium notatum (now Penicillium chrysogenum), a fungus from which penicillin is obtained.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.