Go to 'thermo-' entry Go to 'dino-' entry Go to 'chondro-' entry Go to 'aero-' entry Go to '-logy' entry Go to 'thaumato-' entry Go to 'nano-' entry Go to '-sophy' entry Go to 'bucco-' entry Go to '-ism' entry Go to '-lysis' entry Go to 'galacto-' entry Go to '-anthropy' entry Go to 'pneumo-' entry Go to '-ploitation' entry Go to '-lithic' entry Go to '-sepalous' entry Go to 'onco-' entry Go to '-parous' entry Go to 'dermato-' entry Go to 'multi-' entry Go to 'dodeca-' entry Go to '-zoon' entry Go to 'vermi-' entry Go to 'crystallo-' entry Go to 'biblio-' entry Go to 'eco-' entry Go to 'juxta-' entry Go to 'facio-' entry
Affixes: the building blocks of English
Affixes: the building blocks of English
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-kinin

A hormone.

[Greek kinēsis, motion, plus -in (see -ine3).]

The first example, and the model for others, was bradykinin (Greek bradus, slow), a peptide hormone that causes blood vessels to dilate and smooth muscle to contract (as it were, to set them in motion); tachykinin (Greek takhus, swift), any of a class of substances and having a rapid stimulant effect on smooth muscle. Kinin (formed from bradykinin) is the general term for this group of substances, formed in body tissue in response to injury; in botany that term indicates a plant hormone (also called a cytokinin) that promotes cell division and growth and inhibits ageing.

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