Ecdysteroid

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of a group of hormones responsible for moulting in insects and other functions in other invertebrates and plants.

    "The ecdysteroid group includes more than 250 polyhydroxysterols that occur in plants and animals, with 20-hydroxyecdysone (20-OH-E) being the physiologically active moulting hormone in most insects (Lafont 2000)."

  2. 2
    The name ‘ecdysteroid’ refers to the insect moulting and sex hormones which include ecdysone and its homologues such as 20-hydroxyecdysone. wordnet

Example

More examples

"The ecdysteroid group includes more than 250 polyhydroxysterols that occur in plants and animals, with 20-hydroxyecdysone (20-OH-E) being the physiologically active moulting hormone in most insects (Lafont 2000)."

Etymology

From ecdysis (“shedding, moulting”) (from Ancient Greek ἔκδυσις (ékdusis, “stripping”)) + steroid.

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