Glucagon

//ˈɡlukəˌɡɑn// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A peptide hormone, produced by the pancreas, that opposes the action of insulin by stimulating the production of sugar
  2. 2
    a hormone secreted by the pancreas; stimulates increases in blood sugar levels in the blood (thus opposing the action of insulin) wordnet

Example

More examples

"The pump developed by researchers is a double pump — in addition to insulin, it automatically secretes glucagon, a hormone that taps glucose reserves in the liver, raising blood sugar levels when they get too low, a condition called hypoglycemia."

Etymology

From gluco- + Ancient Greek ἄγων (ágōn), present participle of ἄγω (ágō, “push forward, put in motion; stir up; excite, urge”). Alternatively, possibly gluco- + -a- + -gon.

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