Standard Lemma guide

lectin

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: /ˈlɛktɪn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛktɪn

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of a class of proteins that bind specific carbohydrates.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

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

any of several plant glycoproteins that act like specific antibodies but are not antibodies in that they are not evoked by an antigenic stimulus

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: glycoprotein

History

Etymology

From Latin lēctus (“chosen”) + -in. Coined by W.C. Boyd in 1954.

Across languages

Translations

3 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: lektiini — Translations
  • French: lectine — Translations
  • Russian: лекти́н (lektín) — Translations