Chloroquine

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈklɔː.ɹə(ʊ).kwiːn/

Definitions

1. A drug used primarily to prevent and treat malaria and to manage some autoimmune conditions by modifying the immune response
2. A pharmaceutical compound employed to combat malaria infection and to treat diseases involving abnormal immune activity
3. An antimalarial medication also prescribed in cases of autoimmune disorders to help control symptoms by affecting immune system function

Etymology: Chloroquine gets its name from two halves that were assembled deliberately. The first half, "chloro-", comes from the Ancient Greek "khlōrós", meaning "pale green" or "greenish-yellow", the same root that gives English words for the colour and for the element chlorine. The second half, "-quine", refers to the quinoline family of chemical compounds, which in turn descends from quinine, the bark-derived drug long used against malaria. So the name is a chemist's label rather than an old word that drifted into medicine. It joins a colour-related Greek prefix to a suffix that marks the compound's structural relationship to quinine, and it tells you the drug is a chlorinated relative of that earlier remedy. The "-quine" ending is what signals the family connection; the "chloro-" part records the chlorine atom in its structure.