Allergenicity

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of a substance to provoke an allergic reaction in individuals
2. The ability of a compound to stimulate an immune response that causes allergy symptoms in sensitive persons
3. The characteristic of an agent that can lead to hypersensitivity or allergic reactions in susceptible individuals

Etymology: The word is built from "allergenic" plus the suffix "-ity," which turns an adjective into a noun meaning a quality or state. "Allergenic" itself combines "allergy" with "-genic," a suffix meaning "producing" or "giving rise to," so the whole chain reads roughly as "the quality of producing allergy." The core of the word is "allergy," which was coined in German in 1906 by the Viennese paediatrician Clemens von Pirquet as "Allergie." He built it from Ancient Greek "allos" (other) and "ergon" (work, reaction), so the original sense was an altered reaction in the body. Pirquet's new term then passed into English as "allergy," and the adjective "allergenic" followed as a scientific term for substances that trigger such reactions. The suffix "-genic" has a longer lineage. It comes from Ancient Greek "-genēs," meaning "born of" or "produced by," which in turn grows from "genos" (birth, kind). It reached English through French and Latin forms ending in "-genique" and "-icus," and English has used it since the Middle English period for words describing what produces something.