PCR

English

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /pi si ɑɹ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

PCR (countable and uncountable, plural PCRs)

1. (molecular biology) Initialism of polymerase chain reaction.
   • 2022 February 4, Ian Bogost, “The Internet Is Just Investment Banking Now”, in The Atlantic‎^[1], archived from the original on 6 February 2022:

     But also: all of the banking transactions you carry out, each phrase you dictate to Alexa, each scan of a UPS package en route to your door, every record of a COVID-19 PCR test in your Labcorp account, every bucket of wings you DoorDashed.

2. (medicine) Initialism of protein/creatinine ratio.
3. (aviation) Initialism of pitch control rod.
4. (statistics) Initialism of principal component regression.
5. Initialism of primary control rod.
6. Initialism of power control rod.

Derived terms

polymerase chain reaction

• COLD-PCR
• colony PCR
• dPCR
• hot-start PCR
• nanoPCR
• nested PCR
• OE-PCR
• qPCR
• rhPCR
• RT-PCR
• SSP-PCR
• TAIL-PCR
• TD-PCR
• touchdown PCR
• TS-PCR

Related terms

protein/creatinine ratio

• ACR

control rod

• control rod

Verb

PCR (third-person singular simple present PCRs, present participle PCRing, simple past and past participle PCRed)

1. To perform a polymerase chain reaction.

Adjective

PCR (not comparable)

1. Initialism of post-consumer recycled.

Anagrams

• cr*p, CPR, RPC, PRC, P.R.C., RCP, CRP

German

Etymology

Borrowed from English PCR

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [peːt͡seːˈʔɛʁ]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Noun

PCR f (genitive PCR, no plural)

1. (molecular biology) synonym of Polymerasekettenreaktion

Derived terms

• PCR-Methode
• PCR-Test

Further reading

• “PCR”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)

Indonesian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peˈt͡ʃe.ɛr/, [peˈt͡ʃe.ɛr]

Noun

PCR (plural PCR-PCR)

1. (genetics, molecular biology, organic chemistry) initialism of polymerase chain reaction

Further reading

• “PCR”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Italian

Noun

PCR f

1. (medicine) initialism of proteina C-reattiva; CRP

Spanish

Noun

PCR f (plural PCRs)

1. (medicine) initialism of proteína C reactiva; CRP
2. (molecular biology) synonym of RCP; PCR (polymerase chain reaction)

Further reading

• “PCR”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025