Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several steroid hormones produced primarily by the ovaries that stimulate the development and maintenance of female secondary sex characteristics, exert systemic effects such as the growth and maturation of long bones, promote estrus in many female mammals, and are used as a drug primarily to treat estrogen deficiency.
  • noun Any of several synthetic compounds that mimic the physiologic activity of estrogen, used primarily in oral contraceptives.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun biochemistry Any of a group of steroids that are secreted by the ovaries and function as female sex hormones.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a general term for female steroid sex hormones that are secreted by the ovary and responsible for typical female sexual characteristics

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[estr(us) + –gen.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From estrus +‎ -gen (“a producer of”)

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