pepsin

P3E1P3S1I1N1
/ˈpɛpsɪn/

noun

A digestive enzyme that chemically digests, or breaks down, proteins into shorter chains of amino acids.

OriginGerman Pepsin ← Ancient Greek πέψις →
UncommonScrabble 10
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Meanings

nounpepsin (countable and uncountable, plural pepsins)

plural pepsins

  1. countableuncountablebiochemistryA digestive enzyme that chemically digests, or breaks down, proteins into shorter chains of amino acids.

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekπέψις“digestion”
  2. GermanPepsin
  3. Englishpepsin

From German Pepsin, corresponding to Ancient Greek πέψις (pépsis, “digestion”) + -in.

More words from German, Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 胃蛋白酶
  • 胃蛋白酶 (wèidànbáiméi)digestive enzyme
Czech pepsin
  • pepsindigestive enzyme
Dutch pepsine
  • pepsinedigestive enzyme
Esperanto pepsino
  • pepsinodigestive enzyme
Finnish pepsiini
  • pepsiinidigestive enzyme
French pepsine
  • pepsinedigestive enzyme
German Pepsin
  • Pepsindigestive enzyme
Greek πεψίνη
  • πεψίνη (pepsíni)digestive enzyme
Icelandic pepsín
  • pepsíndigestive enzyme
Indonesian pepsin
  • pepsindigestive enzyme
Italian pepsina
  • pepsinadigestive enzyme
Japanese ペプシン
  • ペプシン (pepusin)digestive enzyme
Māori pētini
  • pētinidigestive enzyme
Polish pepsyna
  • pepsynadigestive enzyme
Portuguese pepsina
  • pepsinadigestive enzyme
Russian пепси́н
  • пепси́н (pepsín)digestive enzyme
Swedish pepsin
  • pepsindigestive enzyme
Tagalog pepsina
  • pepsinadigestive enzyme

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Nippes
Cite this entry
APA

pepsin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pepsin

MLA

“pepsin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pepsin. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pepsin,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pepsin.

Source: pepsin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.