holocrine

adjective

ho·​lo·​crine ˈhō-lə-krən 

-ˌkrīn,

-ˌkrēn,

ˈhä-

: producing or being a secretion resulting from lysis of secretory cells

holocrine sebaceous glands

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French olocrine (later holocrine), from olo- holo- + -crine, from the stem of Greek krī́nein "to separate, choose, decide" — more at certain entry 1

Note: The word was introduced, along with mérocrine merocrine, by the French physician and histologist Louis-Antoine Ranvier (1835-1922) in "Le mécanisme de la sécrétion," Journal de micrographie, tome 11 (1887), p. 9. Ranvier does not proffer an etymology, but presumably he takes krī́nein to mean "secrete" or "excrete," though this meaning is only attested in classical Greek for the prefixed form ekkrī́nein, with a nominal derivative ékkrisis "secretion."

First Known Use

circa 1905, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

holocrine

adjective

ho·​lo·​crine ˈhō-lə-krən  -ˌkrīn  -ˌkrēn 

ˈhäl-ə-

: producing or being a secretion resulting from lysis of secretory cells

holocrine glands

holocrine secretions

holocrine activity

compare apocrine, eccrine, merocrine