ursodeoxycholic acid

noun

A bile acid, C₂₄H₄₀O₄, present in human bile at low concentrations and used as a medication for the treatment of various biliary and liver diseases.

Similar
UDCAursodiol
OriginGerman Ursodesoxycholsäure →
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Meanings

nounursodeoxycholic acid (uncountable)
  1. uncountablechemistryA bile acid, C₂₄H₄₀O₄, present in human bile at low concentrations and used as a medication for the treatment of various biliary and liver diseases.

    Synonyms: UDCA, ursodiol

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA bile acid, C₂₄H₄₀O₄, present in human bile at low concentrations and used as a medication for the treatment of various biliary and liver diseases.

Similar
UDCAursodiol

Origin

  1. GermanUrsodesoxycholsäure
  2. Englishursodeoxycholic acid

Calque of German Ursodesoxycholsäure; equivalent to Latin urs(us) (“bear”) + deoxycholic acid. In 1901–1902, Swedish biochemist Olof Hammarsten isolated an unknown bile acid from polar bear bile at Uppsala University, naming it Ursocholeinsäure (in German) in a two-part paper in Hoppe-Seyler's Zeitschrift für Physiologische Chemie. In 1927, Japanese researcher Masato Shoda crystallized the compound from a commercial preparation of Asian black bear bile and found it to be an isomer of deoxycholic acid, renaming it Ursodesoxycholsäure (in German) in a paper in The Journal of Biochemistry.

More words from German

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic حَامِض أُورْسُودِيُوكْسِيكُولِيك
  • حَامِض أُورْسُودِيُوكْسِيكُولِيك (ḥāmiḍ ʔūrsūdiyūksīkūlīk)drug
Finnish ursodeoksikoolihappo
  • ursodeoksikoolihappodrug
German Ursodesoxycholsäure
  • Ursodesoxycholsäuredrug
Hungarian urzodezoxikólsav
  • urzodezoxikólsavdrug
Spanish ácido ursodesoxicólico
  • ácido ursodesoxicólicodrug
Cite this entry
APA

ursodeoxycholic acid. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ursodeoxycholic%20acid

MLA

“ursodeoxycholic acid.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ursodeoxycholic%20acid. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ursodeoxycholic acid,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ursodeoxycholic%20acid.

Source: ursodeoxycholic acid on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.