Pepsin
/ˈpɛp.sɪn/noun
A digestive enzyme in the stomach that breaks proteins into smaller peptides.
Did you know?Pepsin was named from Greek πέψις (pépsis), meaning “digestion” or “cooking,” from πέπτειν (péptein), “to digest/cook,” so the word carries an ancient image of food being alchemically transformed by heat and acid.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Greek
Greek
πέψις (pépsis)
“digestion; cooking; ripening”
Ancient Greek
Greek
πέπτειν (péptein)
“to digest; to cook; to ripen”
19th Century
English
pepsin
“a digestive principle isolated from gastric juice”
Modern English
English
pepsin
“the main protein-digesting enzyme in the stomach”