''cortisol'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''cortisol'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260218114101-00-⌔

cortisol - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Noun

cortisol (countable and uncountable, plural cortisols)

• (biochemistry, steroids) A glucocorticoid steroid hormone produced by the adrenal cortex that mediates various metabolic processes (such as gluconeogenesis), has anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties, and whose levels in the blood may become elevated in response to physical or psychological stress.
  • ✤ Synonym: hydrocortisone (as a medication)
  • ✤ There is experimental evidence showing that cortisol restrains the intensity and duration of the emergency reaction to stress, and catecholamines have been shown to enhance emotional memory in the amygdala (see subsection on “Noradrenaline”). Thus, individuals lacking cortisol would overstore traumatic memories.¹
  • ✤ “While chronic stress can lead to increased levels of cortisol in the body, those levels don’t usually rise high enough to create a moon face,” said dermatologist Dr. Rajani Katta, a clinical assistant professor at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.²

Etymology

From cortisone + -ol.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈkɔː.tɪ.sɒl/
  • Audio (Berkshire, Southern England): 🔊
• (General American, without the cot–caught merger) IPA: /ˈkoɹ.tɪˌsɔl/, [ˈkoɹ.ɾɪˌsɔl]
• (General American, cot–caught merger, dialects of Canada) IPA: /ˈkoɹ.tɪˌsɑl/, [ˈkoɹ.ɾɪˌsɑl]
  • Audio (North Carolina): 🔊
• (Canada, dialects of the US) IPA: /ˈkoɹ.tɪˌsɒl/, [ˈkoɹ.ɾɪˌsɒl]
• (Australian) IPA: /ˈkoː.tɪ.sɔl/
• (New Zealand) IPA: /ˈkoː.tə.sɒl/, [ˈkoː.tə.sɔ̟l]

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

1. 2006, Marcus Lira Brandão, Frederico Guilherme Graeff, Neurobiology of Mental Disorders, page 36: ↩

2. 2024 October 17, Sandee LaMotte, “Stress and ‘moon face’: What experts say about this TikTok trend”, in CNN ‎${}^{[1]}$: ↩

Link to original

Secondary

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