Standard Lemma guide

hemoglobin

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.

  • US: hēʹmōglōʹbĭn
  • US: hēʹməglōʹbĭn
  • US: /ˌhimoʊˈɡloʊbɪn/
  • US: /ˈhiməˌɡloʊbɪn/
  • UK: /ˌhiːmə(ʊ)ˈɡləʊbɪn/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -əʊbɪn
  • CMU ARPABET: HH IY2 M AH0 G L OW1 B AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body; it consists of a protein (globulin), and haem (a porphyrin ring with an atom of iron at its centre).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Hb, Hgb

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a hemoprotein composed of globin and heme that gives red blood cells their characteristic color; function primarily to transport oxygen from the lungs to the body tissues

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • fish have simpler hemoglobin than mammals

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: haemoglobin, Hb

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: hemoprotein, haemoprotein

Narrower terms: oxyhemoglobin, oxyhaemoglobin

History

Etymology

Originally hematinoglobulin, from hematin (from Ancient Greek αἷμα (haîma, “blood”) + -in) + -o- + globulin (from Latin globus (“ball, sphere”) + -in).

Across languages

Translations

47 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: հեմոգլոբին (hemoglobin) — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Basque: hemoglobina — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Bulgarian: хемоглобин (hemoglobin) — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Catalan: hemoglobina — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Chinese Mandarin: 血紅蛋白 /血红蛋白 (xiěhóngdànbái, xuèhóngdànbái) — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Czech: hemoglobin — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Esperanto: hemoglobino — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Estonian: hemoglobiin — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Finnish: hemoglobiini — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Finnish: verenpuna — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • French: hémoglobine — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Galician: hemoglobina — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • German: Blutfarbstoff — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • German: Hämoglobin — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Greek: αιμοσφαιρίνη (aimosfairíni) — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Hungarian: hemoglobin — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Icelandic: blóðrauða — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Ido: hemoglobino — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Indonesian: hemoglobin — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Interlingua: hemoglobina — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Irish: haemaglóibin — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Italian: emoglobina — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Japanese: ヘモグロビン (hemogurobin) — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Japanese: 血色素 (kessikiso) — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Japanese: 血液色素 (ketsueki-sikiso) — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Kazakh: гемоглобин (gemoglobin) — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Korean: 헤모글로빈 (hemogeullobin) — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Korean: 혈색소 (hyeolsaekso) — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Macedonian: хемоглобин (hemoglobin) — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Malay: hemoglobin — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Marathi: हीमोग्लोबिन (hīmoglobin) — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Navajo: dił bee łichíʼígíí — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Occitan: emoglobina — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Polish: hemoglobina — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Portuguese: hemoglobina — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Romanian: hemoglobină — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Russian: гемоглоби́н (gemoglobín) — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Spanish: hemoglobina — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Swahili: hemoglobini — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Swedish: hemoglobin — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Tagalog: pula ng dugo — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Telugu: రక్తవర్ణకము (raktavarṇakamu) — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Turkish: hemoglobin — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Ukrainian: гемоглобі́н (hemohlobín) — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Vietnamese: hemoglobin — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Welsh: haemoglobin — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen
  • Welsh: hemoglobin — the iron-containing substance in red blood cells that transports oxygen