Standard Lemma guide

heparin

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.

  • /ˈhɛp.ə.ɹɪn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: HH EH1 P ER0 IH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A compound occurring in the liver and other tissues which inhibits blood coagulation. A sulfur-containing polysaccharide, it is used as an anticoagulant in the treatment of thrombosis.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

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

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a polysaccharide produced in basophils (especially in the lung and liver) and that inhibits the activity of thrombin in coagulation of the blood; it (trade names Lipo-Hepin and Liquaemin) is used as an anticoagulant in the treatment of thrombosis and in heart surgery

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Lipo-Hepin, Liquaemin

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: anticoagulant, anticoagulant medication, decoagulant, polysaccharide, polyose

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin hepar Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos Proto-Italic *-īnos Latin -īnusder. Old French -inbor. Middle English -in English -ineclip. English -in English heparin From Latin hepar (“liver”) + English -in.

Across languages

Translations

11 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: heparina — a glycosaminoglycan
  • Finnish: hepariini — a glycosaminoglycan
  • French: héparine — a glycosaminoglycan
  • German: Heparin — a glycosaminoglycan
  • Italian: eparina — a glycosaminoglycan
  • Persian: هپارین (hepârin) — a glycosaminoglycan
  • Polish: heparyna — a glycosaminoglycan
  • Portuguese: heparina — a glycosaminoglycan
  • Russian: гепари́н (geparín) — a glycosaminoglycan
  • Spanish: heparina — a glycosaminoglycan
  • Turkish: heparin — a glycosaminoglycan