Bilirubin

//bɪlɪˈɹuːbɪn// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A bile pigment that is a product of the breakdown of the heme portion of hemoglobin (which occurs within macrophages as they digest red blood cells), and which is responsible for the yellowish color seen in bruises. Extremely high levels of bilirubin may cause jaundice. countable, uncountable

    "The doctors said this was very common, just her new-born liver catching up with the rest of her — the build-up of bilirubin in her blood. The substance red blood cells produce when broken down."

  2. 2
    an orange-yellow pigment in the bile that forms as a product of hemoglobin; excess amounts in the blood produce the yellow appearance observed in jaundice wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
haematoidinhematoidin

Example

More examples

"Jaundice is a temporary yellowing of the newborn baby's skin and eyes because of excess bilirubin, a yellow pigment of red blood cells."

Etymology

From international scientific vocabulary, from German Bilirubin. By surface analysis, bili- + rub- + -in. The German word was naturalized into other languages as international scientific vocabulary (e.g., bilirubin, bilirubine, bilirubina).

Related phrases

bile pigmentred blood cell

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.