Definition of ENDOCRINE

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The body's glands remove specific substances from the blood and alter them for rerelease into the blood or removal. Glands such as those that produce saliva and sweat secrete their products through tiny ducts or tubes on or near the body's surface. The glands without ducts, called the endocrine glands, instead secrete their products into the bloodstream; the endo- root indicates that the secretions are internal rather than on the surface. The endocrine system includes such glands as the pituitary (which controls growth, regulates the other endocrines, and performs many other tasks), the thyroid (another growth gland that also influences metabolism), the adrenals (which secrete adrenaline and steroids), the hypothalamus (which influences sleep and weight regulation), and the ovaries (which produce eggs). Endocrine problems are treated by endocrinologists.

Examples of endocrine in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective These are considered to be endocrine disruptors, which lower reproductive success, Stack said. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "DDT contaminants in marine mammals may threaten California condor recovery," 11 July 2019 According to the National Institutes of Health, these chemicals are believed to be endocrine disruptors, able to interfere with the body's hormonal system. — Nadia Kounang, CNN, "What chemicals are in your mac and cheese?," 15 July 2017 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Polychlorinated biphenyls, also known as PCBs, are a class of chemicals that have been linked to cancers and harm to immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems in humans and animals, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. — Wilborn P. Nobles Iii, baltimoresun.com, "Baltimore County to sue Monsanto for alleged water contamination," 7 Oct. 2019 As these discoveries accumulated, Karsenty and his colleagues began to wonder why the skeleton, which protects our internal organs and gives us the ability to move, also acts as an endocrine organ with multifaceted roles. — Diana Kwon, Scientific American, "Fight or Flight May Be In Our Bones," 12 Sep. 2019 There are two rare genetic syndromes -- multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) and Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome (VHL) -- that increase the risk of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. — Elizabeth Landau, CNN, "Why pancreatic cancer is so deadly," 23 Aug. 2019 This appeared to change behavior and affected endocrine function of fish and other marine species. — Stephen Leahy, National Geographic, "Microplastics are raining down from the sky," 15 Apr. 2019 The endocrine system, when not in working order, can wreak havoc on many functions within the body. — chicagotribune.com, "Thyroid-related headaches and CBD: a new solution to an old problem," 11 Sep. 2019 Other winners included the discovery of cellular signaling mechanisms that create the feeling of pain and the discovery of a new endocrine system through which fat tissue communicates with the brain to regulate food intake. — Leah Asmelash, CNN, "They brought us the first photo of a black hole. Now, it won them $3 million," 5 Sep. 2019 Facts don’t care about your feelings—let the endocrine system take orders from the mind. — Richard Cooke, The New Republic, "The conservative commentariat’s love affair with nootropics," 3 Sep. 2019 The pancreas is an oblong organ that lies deep in the abdomen and is an integral part of both the digestive and endocrine system. — Elizabeth Landau, CNN, "Why pancreatic cancer is so deadly," 23 Aug. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'endocrine.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for endocrine

Adjective

borrowed from French, from endo- endo- + -crine, as in olocrine, holocrine holocrine and mérocrine merocrine

Note: Word introduced by the French histologist Édouard Laguesse (1861-1927) in "Sur la formation des îlots de Langerhans dans le pancréas," Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances et mémoires de la Société de Biologie, 45. tome (1893), p. 820. The conclusions summarized in this report were treated in more detail in the author's "Recherches sur l'histogénie du pancréas chez le mouton," carried over two numbers of the Journal de l'anatomie et de la physiologie, vols. 31-32 (1895-96). In vol. 32, p. 245, Laguesse remarks on the word, now used in the collocation îlots endocrines, referring to the islets of Langerhans: "C'est en 1893 (29 juillet), dans une communication préliminaire faite à la Société de Biologie, que j'ais pour la première fois prononcé ce mot et émis cet hypothèse, mais avec une grande réserve…" ("It was in 1893 (July 29), in a preliminary communication made to the Société de Biologie, that I uttered this word and put forward this hypothesis for the first time, though with great reserve…"). In an undated manuscript note Laguesse commented on the introduction of the word: "Dès ma première communication sur les îlots pancréatiques en 1893, j'avais été gêné d'avoir toujours à répéter ce qualificatif 'à sécrétion interne' et j'étais frappé de la bonne allure et de la simplicité des termes holocrine et mérocrine créés par Ranvier. A son exemple je forgeai le vocable endocrine, de ενδον en dedans, κρινω je sépare, je sécrète. Il devait répondre à une véritable nécessité, si nous en jugeon[s] d'après son succès." ("From the time of my first communication on the pancreatic islets in 1893, I was bothered by the need to always repeat the qualification 'by internal secretion,' and I was struck by the attractiveness and simplicity of the terms holocrine and merocrine created by Ranvier. After his example I coined the word endocrine, de endon 'inside' and krinō 'I separate, I secrete.' It must have responded to a real need, to judge by its success.") (See reproduction of the note in Pierre Fossati, "Edouard Laguesse à Lille en 1893 crée le terme 'endocrine' et ouvre l'ère de l'endocrinologie," Histoire des sciences médicales, tome 38 [2004], pp. 433-40.)

Noun

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“Endocrine.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/endocrine. Accessed 22 November 2019.