Prolactin

//pɹoʊˈlæktɪn// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A peptide gonadotrophic hormone secreted by the pituitary gland; it stimulates growth of the mammary glands and lactation in females. uncountable, usually

    "Men get a dose of the hormone prolactin after orgasm and this acts as a sedative."

  2. 2
    gonadotropic hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary; in females it stimulates growth of the mammary glands and lactation after parturition wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
luteotropinlactogenic hormonelactotropinlactotropinluteotropic hormoneluteotropic hormone

Example

More examples

"Men get a dose of the hormone prolactin after orgasm and this acts as a sedative."

Etymology

From pro- (from Ancient Greek πρό (pró, “before”)) + lact- (variation of lacto-, from Latin lac (“milk”)) + -in (modification of -ine).

Related phrases

mammary glandpituitary gland

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