Krebses

Krebses is the plural form of the surname Krebs and, in that sense, can refer to multiple people who share the Krebs name or to the Krebs family in genealogical or biographical writing. The surname Krebs is of German origin, derived from the word for crab. In English, pluralizing surnames ending in -s or -bs often results in forms like Krebses or the Krebses; both patterns can appear in text, with "the Krebses" being a natural spoken form.

In scientific contexts, Krebses is rarely used and is generally considered nonstandard for referring to the biological concept named after Hans Adolf Krebs. The standard plural when discussing the biochemical pathways is Krebs cycles or the Krebs cycle. The Krebs cycle, also called the citric acid cycle, is a central component of cellular respiration. It was described by Hans Adolf Krebs in the 1930s, leading to his Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1953, shared with Fritz Lipmann. The cycle describes a series of enzymatic reactions that oxidize acetyl-CoA to carbon dioxide and water, producing energy-rich compounds such as NADH and FADH2.

Outside science, Krebses may appear in historical, literary, or genealogical texts when referring to members of the Krebs family. In that usage, the term simply marks the pluralization of the surname and does not imply any scientific connotation. Overall, Krebses is an infrequent, context-dependent plural that is far more commonly encountered as the proper noun Krebs when naming individuals, or as Krebs cycles in scientific writing.