Standard Lemma guide

heme

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK, US: /hiːm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːm

1

noun

Meaning 1

The component of hemoglobin (and other hemoproteins) responsible for binding oxygen. It consists of an iron ion that binds oxygen and a porphyrin ring that binds the globin molecules; one molecule binds one molecule of oxygen.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, microbiology, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a complex red organic pigment containing iron and other atoms to which oxygen binds

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: haem, hematin, haemitin, protoheme

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: pigment

History

Etymology

Back-formation from hemoglobin.

Across languages

Translations

7 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Czech: hem — component of hemoglobin
  • French: hème — component of hemoglobin
  • German: Häm — component of hemoglobin
  • Hungarian: hem — component of hemoglobin
  • Italian: eme — component of hemoglobin
  • Portuguese: heme — component of hemoglobin
  • Spanish: hemo — component of hemoglobin