penicillin

1. 1.

   any of various antibiotics obtained from Penicillium molds (or produced synthetically) and used in the treatment of various infections and diseases

   Broaderantibiotic

   Narroweramoxicillinampicillingriseofulvinmethicillinpenicillinase-resistant antibioticpenicillin Fpenicillin Gpenicillin Openicillin Vpiperacillin

Other forms of penicillin

plural

penicillins·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about penicillin

What does penicillin mean?

penicillin means "any of various antibiotics obtained from Penicillium molds (or produced synthetically) and used in the treatment of various infections and diseases".

How many syllables are in penicillin?

penicillin has 4 syllables: pen-i-cil-lin. The stress falls on "cil". In IPA it is /ˌpɛnəˈsɪlən/.

Is penicillin a common word?

penicillin is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.