Word
collagen
Phoneticscol·la·gen
US/ˈkɑɫəɡən/
UK/kˈɒleɪdʒən/
Definition
n. a strong protein in your body that helps keep your skin, hair, and bones healthy. It acts like a glue that holds everything together and makes your skin look firm.
n. a fibrous structural protein found in the connective tissue, skin, and bones of mammals. It provides tensile strength and elasticity to various biological structures.
Examples
“Your body produces less collagen as you get older.”
“Many skincare products claim to boost collagen production to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.”
“The structural integrity of the extracellular matrix depends heavily on the density and arrangement of collagen fibers, which provide the necessary scaffolding for cellular growth.”
Examples
simple
“Your body produces less collagen as you get older.”
contextual
“Many skincare products claim to boost collagen production to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.”
complex
“The structural integrity of the extracellular matrix depends heavily on the density and arrangement of collagen fibers, which provide the necessary scaffolding for cellular growth.”
Usage
Usually uncountable when referring to the protein in general; countable when referring to specific biochemical types.
Real-World Examples
Common in science writing
“Eventually, collagen fibers aligned in tight parallel rows will replace much of the damaged tissue.” “To test how T cells respond to their environment, immune cells from humans and mice were placed in engineered collagen gels that replicated tissues of varying stiffness.” “Researchers have found strong evidence that original collagen can survive inside dinosaur fossils for tens of millions of years, overturning a long-standing assumption about fossilization.” Etymology
From French collagène, coined from Ancient Greek κόλλα (kólla, “glue”) and -γενής (-genḗs, “-forming”) (see -gen); it is the main substance that animal glues are derived from. Doublet of collage, colloid, and protocol.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/collagen