toxicoid

English

Etymology

From toxic +‎ -oid.

Adjective

toxicoid (not comparable)

  1. (biology, medicine, rare, dated) Resembling a toxin but not the same.

Usage notes

Do not confuse toxicoid (a rare, dated word meaning "resembling a toxin") with toxoid (a common word meaning a weakened derivative of a toxin that is helpful because it can immunize someone against the toxin itself, whose effects are much worse). The words are etymologically related, but the meaning of toxoid more specifically as an immunizing weakened derivative is long since firmly established.

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.