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.
Received-Pronunciation:/tɛˈstɒ.stə.ɹəʊn/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:/tɛˈstɑ.stəˌɹoʊn/
General-American:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:T EH2 S T AA1 S T ER0 OW2 N
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A steroid hormone that stimulates development of male secondary sexual characteristics, produced mainly in the testes, but also in the ovaries and adrenal cortex.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
Manly behavior, often of an aggressive or foolishly reckless nature.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, figuratively, uncountable
Examples
Mother encouraged James to rely more on intelligence and less on testosterone to deal with the neighbor's son.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
a potent androgenic hormone produced chiefly by the testes; responsible for the development of male secondary sex characteristics
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: androgen, androgenic hormone
History
Etymology
Etymology tree Latin testislbor. English test(is) Ancient Greek -ο- (-o-)der. Latin -o-bor. English -o- Proto-Indo-European *ǵhelh3- Proto-Hellenic *kholā́ Ancient Greek χολή (kholḗ) Proto-Indo-European *ster-der. Ancient Greek στερεός (stereós) French cholestérine French cholestérolbor. English cholesterol English sterol German Ketonbor. English ketone English -one English -sterone English testosterone From test(is) + -o- + -sterone (“steroid hormone”).
Across languages
Translations
41 source translations are retained for this English entry.
