What does insulin mean in medical terms?

insulin

Meaning: insulin; pancreatic islet hormone

Type: Word root · Body system: Hormones & Glands

A word root is the core of a word; prefixes and suffixes attach around it. On this page: what insulin means, and real medical words that use it, each broken down into its parts.

Example words using insulin

insulinoma
insulin (insulin) + -oma (tumor, mass) = a mass that produces insulin
hyperinsulinemia
hyper- (excessive) + insulin (insulin) + -emia (blood condition) = excessive insulin in the blood

Shortened forms

Charts and notes shorten long terms — see the Medical Abbreviations guide for the short forms you will meet in real records.

Please note: This section teaches the language of medicine — what word parts mean and how terms are built. It is an educational reference, not medical advice. For the meaning of a word in your own medical record, ask the clinician who wrote it.