noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Any of a family of iron-carrying globular protein complexes consisting of 24 protein subunits; the key protein of intracellular iron storage.
2. 2
   a protein containing 20% iron that is found in the intestines and liver and spleen; it is one of the chief forms in which iron is stored in the body wordnet

Etymology

From Latin ferrātus (“iron-bearing”) and -in; compare also ferri- and ferro-.

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