Word.ws English Dictionary

sildenafil

/sɪlˈdɛn.ə.fɪl/

sildenafil noun: a drug that is used in the form of its citrate C₂₂H₃₀N₆O₄S·C₆H₈O₇ to treat erectile dysfunction in males, that by suppressing a phosphodiesterase enzyme also suppresses the enzyme's inhibitory effect on the hormone cyclic GMP, and that enables the cyclic GMP produced during sexual arousal to initiate the muscular and vascular changes which produce an erection. It is marketed under the trademarks Revatio and Viagra.

sildenafil: a drug that is used in the form of its citrate C₂₂H₃₀N₆O₄S·C₆H₈O₇ to treat erectile dysfunction in...
Image: Mrgreen71, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

sildenafil (usually uncountable, plural sildenafils)

  1. (usually) A drug that is used in the form of its citrate C₂₂H₃₀N₆O₄S·C₆H₈O₇ to treat erectile dysfunction in males, that by suppressing a phosphodiesterase enzyme also suppresses the enzyme's inhibitory effect on the hormone cyclic GMP, and that enables the cyclic GMP produced during sexual arousal to initiate the muscular and vascular changes which produce an erection. It is marketed under the trademarks Revatio and Viagra.
    • Ellis opens a file from his stack. In 1991, he says, Pfizer wanted to test the safety of what came to be known as sildenafil.2017, David Friend, The Naughty Nineties

Forms of sildenafil

pluralsildenafils

Origin of sildenafil

Probably from s(ulfon)yl + -dena- (“alteration of (pyrimi)dine”) + ph(en)yl.

Words formed from sildenafil

Questions about sildenafil

What does sildenafil mean?
Sildenafil means a drug that is used in the form of its citrate C₂₂H₃₀N₆O₄S·C₆H₈O₇ to treat erectile dysfunction in males, that by suppressing a phosphodiesterase enzyme also suppresses the enzyme's inhibitory effect on the hormone cyclic GMP, and that enables the cyclic GMP produced during sexual arousal to initiate the muscular and vascular changes which produce an erection. It is marketed under the trademarks Revatio and Viagra.
What part of speech is sildenafil?
Sildenafil is a noun.
How do you pronounce sildenafil?
Sildenafil is pronounced /sɪlˈdɛn.ə.fɪl/.
What is the plural of sildenafil?
The plural of sildenafil is sildenafils.

Words near sildenafil in the dictionary

  1. silcrete
  2. silcretes
  3. silcrow
  4. silcrows
  5. sild
  6. sildenafil
  7. sildenafil citrate
  8. sildenafils
  9. silds
  10. sile
  11. sileage

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sildenafil (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “sildenafil.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sildenafil. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.