Standard Lemma guide

polymerase

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

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  • CMU ARPABET: P AA1 L IH2 M ER0 EY2 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of various enzymes that catalyze the formation of polymers of DNA or RNA using an existing strand of RNA or DNA respectively as a template.

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

an enzyme that catalyzes the formation of new DNA and RNA from an existing strand of DNA or RNA

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: enzyme

Narrower terms: DNA polymerase, transcriptase, RNA polymerase, reverse transcriptase

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pleh1- Proto-Indo-European *polh1ús Ancient Greek πολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)lbor. English poly- Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer-der. Proto-Hellenic *(h)méros Ancient Greek μέρος (méros)lbor. English -mer English polymer Proto-Indo-European *dwóh1 Proto-Indo-European *dwísder. Ancient Greek διά (diá) Ancient Greek δῐᾰ- (dĭă-) Proto-Indo-European *steh2- Proto-Indo-European *stísteh2ti Proto-Hellenic *hístāmi Ancient Greek ῐ̔́στημῐ (hĭ́stēmĭ) Ancient Greek δῐῐ̈́στημῐ (dĭĭ̈́stēmĭ) Ancient Greek δῐᾰ́στᾰσῐς (dĭắstăsĭs) English diastase English -ase English polymerase From polymer + -ase.

Across languages

Translations

17 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Cantonese: 聚合酶 (zeoi6 hap6 mui4) — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • Chinese Mandarin: 聚合酶 (jùhéméi) — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • Cyrillic: полимераз (polimeraz) — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • Cyrillic: нийлмэл исгүүр (niilmel isgüür) — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • Finnish: polymeraasi — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • French: polymérase — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • German: Polymerase — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • Greek: πολυμεράση (polymerási) — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • Hindi: बहुलकेद (bahulaked) — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • Indonesian: polimerase — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • Italian: polimerasi — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • Māori: whākōkī waerau — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • Mongolian: ᠫᠣᠯᠢᠮᠧᠷᠠᠽ (polimēraz) — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • Mongolian: ᠨᠡᠢᠯᠡᠮᠡᠯ ᠢᠰᠬᠡᠭᠦᠷ (neilemel iskegür) — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • Portuguese: polimerase — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • Russian: полимераза (polimeraza) — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers
  • Spanish: polimerasa — enzyme that catalyses the formation of polymers