Amphipathic

Origin

- + pathic + -

Full definition of amphipathic

Adjective

1. (chemistry) describing a molecule, such as a detergent, which has both hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups.
2. (biochemistry) often refers to the surface(s) on a protein, particularly an alpha helix, where one surface of the alpha helix has hydrophilic amino acids and the opposite face has hydrophobic (or lipophilic) amino acids.