Hormonal means to do with the body's chemical messengers. A hormonal condition, hormonal changes, hormonal treatment.
Hormones are made in one place and act in another, travelling in the blood, which is what distinguishes them from nerve signals. The word is used dismissively of women's moods far more often than of men's, which is worth noticing before reaching for it. Note hormone, from the Greek for setting in motion.
1adjectivehormonalTo do with the body's chemical messengers.
“Teenagers go through many hormonal changes during puberty.”
hormonal is a quality of relating to hormones.
Ancient Greek
ὁρμάω
English
hormone
English, today
hormonal
Built from
From hormone + -al. hormone Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ὁρμάω. Ancient Greek ὁρμῶν, present participle of ὁρμάω (“to set in motion, to urge on”), from ὁρμή (“rapid motion forwards, onrush, onset, assault, impulse to do a thing, effort”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA