Standard Lemma guide

penicillin

noun · 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.

  • /ˌpɛn.ɪˈsɪl.ɪn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɪlɪn
  • CMU ARPABET: P EH2 N AH0 S IH1 L AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of a group of narrow-spectrum antibiotics obtained from Penicillium molds or synthesized, that have a beta-lactam structure and are active against gram-positive bacteria and used in the treatment of various infections and diseases.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: medicine, pharmacology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A blue mold of the genus Penicillium that produces penicillin.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: biology, mycology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

any of various antibiotics obtained from Penicillium molds (or produced synthetically) and used in the treatment of various infections and diseases

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: antibiotic, antibiotic drug

Narrower terms: amoxicillin, Amoxil, Larotid, Polymox, Trimox, Augmentin, ampicillin, Principen, Polycillin, SK-Ampicillin, griseofulvin, Fulvicin, methicillin, penicillinase-resistant antibiotic, penicillin F, penicillin G, benzylpenicillin, penicillin O, penicillin V, phenoxymethyl penicillin, piperacillin, Pipracil

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pes- Proto-Indo-European *pes-ni-s Proto-Italic *peznis Latin pēnis Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Proto-Italic *-kelos Latin -culus Latin pēniculus ▲ Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -lus Latin -illum Latin pēnicillum Translingual -ium Translingual Penicillium Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos Proto-Italic *-īnos Latin -īnusder. Old French -inbor. Middle English -in English -ineclip. English -in English penicillin From translingual Penicillium + -in. Coined by Alexander Fleming after Penicillium notatum (now Penicillium chrysogenum), a fungus from which penicillin is obtained.

Across languages

Translations

55 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: بِنِسِلِين (binisilīn) — antibiotic
  • Arabic: بينسيلين — antibiotic
  • Basque: penizilina — antibiotic
  • Belarusian: пеніцылі́н (pjenicylín) — antibiotic
  • Bulgarian: пеницили́н (penicilín) — antibiotic
  • Catalan: penicil·lina — antibiotic
  • Chinese Mandarin: 青黴素 /青霉素 (qīngméisù) — antibiotic
  • Chinese Mandarin: 盤尼西林 /盘尼西林 (pánníxīlín) — antibiotic
  • Czech: penicilín — antibiotic
  • Danish: penicillin — antibiotic
  • Dutch: penicilline — antibiotic
  • Esperanto: penicilino — antibiotic
  • Faroese: penicillin — antibiotic
  • Finnish: penisilliini — antibiotic
  • French: pénicilline — antibiotic
  • Georgian: პენიცილინი (ṗenicilini) — antibiotic
  • German: Penicillin — antibiotic
  • German: Penizillin — antibiotic
  • Greek: πενικιλίνη (penikilíni) — antibiotic
  • Hebrew: פניצילין — antibiotic
  • Hindi: पेनिसिलिन (penisilin) — antibiotic
  • Hungarian: penicillin — antibiotic
  • Icelandic: penisillín — antibiotic
  • Ido: penicilino — antibiotic
  • Indonesian: penisilin — antibiotic
  • Italian: penicillina — antibiotic
  • Japanese: ペニシリン (penishirin) — antibiotic
  • Kazakh: пенициллин (penisillin) — antibiotic
  • Khmer: ប៉េនីស៊ីលីន (pâyniseelin) — antibiotic
  • Korean: 페니실린 (penisillin) — antibiotic
  • Lithuanian: penicilinas — antibiotic
  • Macedonian: пеницили́н (penicilín) — antibiotic
  • Marathi: पेनिसिलिन (penisilin) — antibiotic
  • Norwegian Bokmål: penicillin — antibiotic
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: penicillin — antibiotic
  • Occitan: penicillina — antibiotic
  • Persian: پنیسیلین (penisilin) — antibiotic
  • Polish: penicylina — antibiotic
  • Portuguese: penicilina — antibiotic
  • Romanian: penicilină — antibiotic
  • Russian: пеницилли́н (penicillín) — antibiotic
  • Samoan: penisilini — antibiotic
  • Serbo-Croatian: пеницилин — antibiotic
  • Serbo-Croatian: penicilin — antibiotic
  • Slovak: penicilín — antibiotic
  • Slovene: penicilin — antibiotic
  • Spanish: penicilina — antibiotic
  • Swedish: penicillin — antibiotic
  • Tamil: பெனிசிலின் (peṉiciliṉ) — antibiotic
  • Telugu: పెన్సిలిన్ (pensilin) — antibiotic
  • Thai: เพนิซิลลิน (pâynísíllin) — antibiotic
  • Tibetan: པན་ནི་སི་ལིན་ (pan ni si lin) — antibiotic
  • Turkish: penisilin — antibiotic
  • Ukrainian: пеніцилі́н (penicylín) — antibiotic
  • Vietnamese: penicillin — antibiotic