Standard Lemma guide

ibuprofen

noun · verb · 3 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌʌɪ.bjuː.ˈpɹəʊ.fən/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˌaɪ.bju.ˈpɹoʊ.fən/
  • General-American: /ˌaɪ.bjə.ˈpɹoʊfən/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AY2 B Y UW0 P R OW1 F AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A synthetic compound used widely as an analgesic and anti-inflammatory drug.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: chemistry, medicine, natural-sciences, organic-chemistry, pharmacology, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Advil, Nuprin, Motrin

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To treat with ibuprofen; to administer ibuprofen to someone.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive, rare, transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory and analgesic medicine (trade names Advil and Motrin and Nuprin) used to relieve the pain of arthritis and as an antipyretic

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • daily use of ibuprofen can irritate the stomach

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: isobutylphenyl propionic acid, Advil, Motrin, Nuprin

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, NSAID

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English isobut(anol) Proto-Indo-European *swel-der.? Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)der. Frenchder. English -yl English i(so)bu(tyl) English pro(pionic acid) Proto-Indo-European *bheh2-der. Proto-Hellenic *pháňňō Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō)der. French phéno- ▲ Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)der. French -yle French phénylebor. English phen(yl) English ibuprofen From i(so)bu(tyl) + pro(pionic acid) + phen(yl).

Across languages

Translations

33 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: ибупрофе́н (ibuprofén) — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Catalan: ibuprofèn — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Chinese Mandarin: 布洛芬 (bùluòfēn) — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Czech: ibuprofen — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Dutch: ibuprofen — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Finnish: ibuprofeeni — anti-inflammatory drug
  • French: ibuprofène — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Galician: ibuprofeno — anti-inflammatory drug
  • German: Ibuprofen — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Greek: ιβουπροφαίνη (ivouprofaíni) — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Hebrew: איבופרופן — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Hungarian: ibuprofén — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Irish: iobúpróifein — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Italian: ibuprofene — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Japanese: イブプロフェン (ibupurofen) — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Korean: 이부프로펜 (ibupeuropen) — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Latin: acidus propionicus isobutylphenylus — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Lithuanian: Iboprofenas — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Malay: ibuprofen — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Polish: ibuprofen — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Portuguese: ibuprofeno — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Romanian: ibuprofen — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Russian: ибупрофе́н (ibuprofén) — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Serbo-Croatian: ибупро̀фе̄н — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Serbo-Croatian: ibupròfēn — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Spanish: ibuprofeno — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Swedish: ibuprofen — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Tamil: ஐப்யூபுரூஃபன் (aipyūpurūfaṉ) — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Thai: ไอบูโปรเฟน (aiboobporfayn) — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Turkish: ibuprofen — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Vietnamese: ibuprofen — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Welsh: ibuprofen — anti-inflammatory drug
  • Yiddish: איבופּראָפֿען (ibuprofen) — anti-inflammatory drug