Alexipharmical

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having the quality of counteracting or preventing the effects of poison
2. Related to substances or methods that neutralize toxins or guard against poisoning
3. Describing the ability to protect the body from the harmful impact of poisons

Etymology: Greek physicians built this word from a verb meaning "to ward off." Ancient Greek "alexipharmakos" combined "alexein," "to defend, guard, protect; to keep off," with "pharmakon," a word that could mean a healing drug, a poison, a charm, or a spell. The same Greek word therefore covered both cure and curse, and the compound's job was to name a substance that fended off the harm of the other. The word reached English through French and Late Latin. The Latin form "alexipharmacus" passed into French as "alexipharmaque," which is now archaic in French, and English took the adjective from that source. The noun "alexipharmac," meaning an antidote, came along a separate route from Latin "alexipharmacon," and English later formed "alexipharmic" by adding the suffix "-ic," meaning "of or pertaining to," to that noun. Because the Greek noun "pharmakon" could mean poison as well as remedy, the word's core sense was never a simple "medicine." It was a defence against whatever a drug might do, and the adjective describes that protective quality rather than the drug itself.