alpha-interferon

1. 1.

   a form of interferon that is produced endogenously and commercially for its pharmacological effects (including regulation of the immune system and antiviral and antineoplastic effects)

   Broaderinterferon

Questions about alpha-interferon

What does alpha-interferon mean?

alpha-interferon means "a form of interferon that is produced endogenously and commercially for its pharmacological effects (including regulation of the immune system and antiviral and antineoplastic effects)".

How many syllables are in alpha-interferon?

alpha-interferon has 5 syllables and divides as al-pha-in-ter-fe-ron under the regular spelling rules. It is not in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, so that comes from how the word is written rather than from a recorded pronunciation, and no stress or phonetic transcription is claimed for it.

Is alpha-interferon a common word?

alpha-interferon is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.