penicillin

UK/ˌpɛn.ɪˈsɪl.ɪn/US/ˌpɛn.ɪˈsɪl.ɪn/

nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,379 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: penicillins

Penicillin is the first of the drugs made from mould to kill bacteria. A course of penicillin, allergic to penicillin, discover penicillin.

Alexander Fleming noticed in 1928 that a mould contaminating a dish had killed the bacteria around it; Florey and Chain turned that into a usable drug in time for the war, and the three shared the Nobel Prize. Perhaps one person in ten reports an allergy to penicillin.

Definitions of penicillin

1nounpenicillinA drug made from mould that kills bacteria.B2
“The doctor gave her penicillin to clear up the infection in her throat.”

penicillin is a drug.

Where it comes from

Named by Fleming from Penicillium, the mould, from Latin penicillum, a painter's brush, which the mould resembles.

From Penicillium + -in. From Penicillium + -in. Coined by Alexander Fleming after Penicillium notatum (now Penicillium chrysogenum), a fungus from which penicillin is obtained.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

penicillin in the wild

Eight species of Penicillium, in the section Chrysogena, produce penicillins.
Penicillin
The purified compound (penicillin F) was isolated in 1940 by a research team led by Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain at the University of Oxford.
Penicillin
The work on penicillin at St Mary's ended in 1929.
History of penicillin
During the Second World War penicillin became an important part of the Allied war effort, saving thousands of lives.
History of penicillin
The route of administration of penicillin can have an effect on the development of side effects.
Side effects of penicillin

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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