Standard Lemma guide

oxytocin

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.

  • General-American: /ɑksiˈtoʊsɪn/
  • General-American: /ˈɑksiˌtoʊsɪn/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AA2 K S AH0 T OW1 S AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A hormone that stimulates contractions during labor, and then the production of milk; also plays a role in social bonding.

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

hormone secreted by the posterior pituitary gland (trade name Pitocin); stimulates contractions of the uterus and ejection of milk

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: Pitocin

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: hormone, endocrine, internal secretion

History

Etymology

From oxytocic, from Ancient Greek ὀξύς (oxús, “swift”) + τόκος (tókos, “childbirth”, from τίκτω (tíktō, “I give birth”)).

Across languages

Translations

27 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Belarusian: аксітацын (aksitacyn) — hormone
  • Bulgarian: окситоцин (oksitocin) — hormone
  • Chinese Cantonese: 催產素 /催产素 (ceoi1 caan2 sou3) — hormone
  • Chinese Mandarin: 催產素 /催产素 (cuīchǎnsù) — hormone
  • Danish: oxytocin — hormone
  • Dutch: oxytocine — hormone
  • Finnish: oksitosiini — hormone
  • French: ocytocine — hormone
  • French: oxytocine — hormone
  • German: Oxytocin — hormone
  • Greek: οξυτοκίνη (oxytokíni) — hormone
  • Greek: ωκυτοκίνη (okytokíni) — hormone
  • Hebrew: אוקסיטוצין — hormone
  • Hungarian: oxitocin — hormone
  • Italian: ossitocina — hormone
  • Japanese: オキシトシン (okishitoshin) — hormone
  • Kazakh: окситоцин (oksitosin) — hormone
  • Korean: 옥시토신 (oksitosin) — hormone
  • Norwegian Bokmål: oksytocin — hormone
  • Polish: oksytocyna — hormone
  • Portuguese: oxitocina — hormone
  • Portuguese: ocitocina — hormone
  • Russian: окситоцин (oksitocin) — hormone
  • Spanish: occitocina — hormone
  • Swedish: oxytocin — hormone
  • Turkish: oksitosin — hormone
  • Ukrainian: окситоцин (oksytocyn) — hormone