Alexipharmacal

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. Serving to neutralize or counteract the effects of a poison or noxious substance
2. Capable of warding off poisoning by acting against toxins already in the body
3. Describing a remedy or agent that opposes the harmful action of venom or poison

Etymology: Alexipharmacal is a word for something that counters poison, and its Greek ancestor is almost a word-by-word description of that job. The Greek "alexiphármakos" combined "aléxein," meaning "to ward off" or "to protect," with "phármakon," a word that could mean a drug, a poison, a charm, or a dye. The same substance could be feared or relied upon, depending on the dose, so one word covered both the harm and the cure. The Greek noun "alexipharmakon" meant "antidote," and it passed into Latin as "alexipharmacon" and then into French as "alexipharmaque." English took the adjective form from French and Late Latin, so the word arrived as a learned borrowing rather than something that grew in everyday speech. The "-al" ending in the form you asked about is simply a later adjective suffix added to the older "-ic" form, which is why the two versions sit side by side in dictionaries.

Synonyms: alexipharmic, antidotal