pheromone
Americannoun
-
pheromones
plural
noun
Closer Look
The release of pheromones is one of various forms of nonverbal communication many animals use to transmit messages to other members of the same species. The complex molecular structure of pheromones allows these chemical messages to contain a great deal of often very specific information. The pheromone released by sexually receptive silkworm moths, first isolated in the 1950s, is one of the best-studied examples. The pheromone bombykol, released by the female from a gland in her belly, is detectable by male silkworm moths up to several kilometers away. The male identifies the chemical in the environment with tiny receptors at the tip of his antennae and is then able to hone in on the female. Hornets, when disturbed, release an alarm pheromone that calls other hornets to their aid. Female mice pheromones may excite a male mouse to mate immediately. In addition to producing instinctive behavioral responses, pheromones can also produce changes in an animal's physiology, spurring the onset of puberty or bringing on estrus. Pheromones used by animals, such as cats and dogs, to mark territory can convey information about an animal's species, gender, age, social and reproductive status, size, and even when it was last in the area. But can humans communicate via chemicals, too? In the 1970s Martha McClintock showed that the menstrual cycles of women living closely together in dormitories tended to become synchronized, an effect thought by some to be mediated by pheromones. Despite such evidence, no pheromone receptors have yet been found in humans.
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Etymology
Origin of pheromone
Explanation
Pheromones are chemical signals that animals send to each other. You can think of pheromones as an invisible form of communication. Scientists suspect that humans secrete pheromones, which are sort of like hormones that are released outside the body, but there's still no proof that we can perceive them the way other animals can. Ants, for example, send complex messages using these chemicals, directing each other toward food or warning of danger. Other animals use pheromones to attract mates and mark territory. Pheromone, modeled on hormone, is from the Greek pherein, "to carry."
Vocabulary lists containing pheromone
Sometimes the Girl
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The Eyes and the Impossible
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The Last Beekeeper
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
She travels round and touches the bees with her own pheromone.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
She has a pheromone - like an energy - which keeps the bees happy.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
"But in our experiments, virus-infected queens laid fewer eggs and produced less methyl oleate. That pheromone reduction seems to be the signal to workers that a queen is no longer fit to continue."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 22, 2025
“You’re literally managing a pest by preventing it from being born in the first place,” said Haviland of both sterile insect technique and pheromone mating disruption.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2024
Some, such as pheromone composition, directly influence the insect’s preference for partners, ensuring H. elevatus mates mostly with members of its own species and only occasionally with its parent species.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 17, 2024
"This keeps the whole group tight together. It's like Guardiola is the queen bee at Manchester City and has got the right pheromones going through his hive at the moment."
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
Once the beetle turns its own pheromones off, it can’t turn them back on.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026
When the pioneer Spruce bark beetles find a suitable host tree they release pheromones - chemical signals to attract fellow beetles and establish a colony.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2025
The probability of their models was based on the dynamics of these pheromones.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 16, 2024
Most of the known pheromones are small, simple molecules, active in extremely small concentrations.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
