cephalosporin

English

Etymology

From translingual Cephalosporium (now Acremonium), a genus of fungi, + -in.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɛfələʊˈspɔəɹɪn/

Noun

cephalosporin (plural cephalosporins)

1. Any of a class of natural and synthetic antibiotics developed from Acremonium fungi, having a cepham structure.
   • 2001, Leslie Iversen, Drugs: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 63:

     Another important group of antibiotics, the cephalosporins, a class that includes more than twenty-five different drugs, are chemically distinct from the penicillins but act in the same way as cell wall inhibitors, as do vancomycin and bacitracin.

Derived terms

• cephalosporanic
• cephalosporinase

Translations

antibiotic derived from Acremonium fungi

• Catalan: cefalosporina (ca) f
• Czech: cefalosporin m
• French: céphalosporine (fr) f
• German: Zephalosporin n
• Italian: cefalosporina (it) f
• Polish: cefalosporyna (pl)
• Portuguese: cefalosporina f
• Russian: цефалоспори́н (ru) m (cefalosporín)
• Spanish: cefalosporina f
• Ukrainian: цефалоспори́н m (cefalosporýn)

See also

• cephamycin