Alexipharmic

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /əˌlɛksɪˈfɑːmɪk/

Definitions

1. Having the ability to counteract toxins and prevent poisoning Referring to agents that provide protection against harmful substances Relating to medicines designed to neutralize the effects of poisons
2. Capable of neutralizing poisons to prevent harm or poisoning
3. Describing substances or properties that oppose the effects of toxic agents

Etymology: Greek physicians built this word from a single idea: "alexein" meant "to ward off," and "pharmakon" could mean either a healing drug or a poison, since the same substance might do either. Put together, "alexipharmakon" named an antidote, a remedy that turned poison aside. The Greek noun passed into Latin as "alexipharmacon," then into Late Latin, and from there into the vocabulary of English medicine, where it was used as a noun before the adjective developed from it. The adjective "alexipharmic" is a later variant of "alexipharmac," with the English suffix "-ic" added, which marks something as of or pertaining to a thing. Its ancestry runs through French and Late Latin, the same route as its noun-based relative, so the two words share a root but differ in their suffixes. Both remain largely archaic, surviving mainly in older medical and historical writing.