Standard Lemma guide

histamine

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.

  • /ˈhɪstəmiːn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: HH IH1 S T AH0 M IY2 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An amine, C5H9N3, formed by decarboxylation of histidine, that causes dilatation of capillaries, contraction of smooth muscle, and stimulation of gastric acid secretion; it is released during allergic reactions.

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

amine formed from histidine that stimulates gastric secretions and dilates blood vessels; released by the human immune system during allergic reactions

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: amine, aminoalkane

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *steh2- Ancient Greek ῐ̔στός (hĭstós)bor. English histo- English -idine English hist(idine) Egyptian jmnbor. Ancient Greek Ᾰ̓́μμων (Ắmmōn)bor. Latin Ammōn Latin ammoniacusder. English ammonia Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos Proto-Italic *-īnos Latin -īnusder. Old French -inbor. Middle English -in English -ine English amine English -amine English histamine From hist(idine) + -amine.

Across languages

Translations

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: histamina — an amine
  • Chinese Mandarin: 組胺 /组胺 (zǔ'àn) — an amine
  • Czech: histamin — an amine
  • Esperanto: histamino — an amine
  • Finnish: histamiini — an amine
  • French: histamine — an amine
  • Georgian: ჰისტამინი (hisṭamini) — an amine
  • German: Histamin — an amine
  • Greek: ισταμίνη (istamíni) — an amine
  • Hungarian: hisztamin — an amine
  • Icelandic: lostefni — an amine
  • Icelandic: histamín — an amine
  • Ido: histamino — an amine
  • Italian: istamina — an amine
  • Japanese: ヒスタミン (hisutamin) — an amine
  • Polish: histamina — an amine
  • Portuguese: histamina — an amine
  • Romanian: histamină — an amine
  • Russian: гистами́н (gistamín) — an amine
  • Spanish: histamina — an amine
  • Swedish: histamin — an amine
  • Turkish: histamin — an amine