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Origin and history of pepsin

pepsin(n.)

also pepsine, "fermin found in gastric juice, used medicinally for cases of indigestion," 1844, coined in German (Theodor Schwann, 1835) from Greek pepsis "digestion; a cooking," from stem pep- (see peptic) + -in (2).

Entries linking to pepsin

1650s, "of or pertaining to the function of digestion;" 1660s, "promoting digestion," from Latin pepticus, from Greek peptikos "able to digest," from peptos "cooked, digested," verbal adjective of peptein "to cook" (from PIE root *pekw- "to cook, ripen").

U.S. patent filed Sept. 23, 1902, by Caleb D. Bradham (1867-1934), pharmacist and drugstore owner of New Bern, N.C., probably from pepsin; early Pepsi ads tout it as a digestive aid.

word-forming element in chemistry, usually indicating a neutral substance, antibiotic, vitamin, or hormone; a modification and specialized use of -ine (2).

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    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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