Keflex

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A brand name for the antibiotic cephalexin, a cephalosporin drug used to treat bacterial infections such as those of the skin, urinary tract and respiratory system
2. The trademarked name of a cephalosporin antibiotic, cephalexin, prescribed to fight a range of bacterial infections in the body
3. A proprietary medicine name for cephalexin, an oral antibiotic from the cephalosporin class commonly given for bacterial infections

Etymology: Keflex is a brand name, not an ordinary dictionary word, and its history is that of a trademark coined for a specific antibiotic. Its active ingredient, cephalexin, belongs to the cephalosporin family, a class of antibiotics first isolated from a fungus, "Cephalosporium acremonium," found in sewage off the coast of Sardinia in 1948 by Italian researcher Giuseppe Brotzu. The name "cephalosporin" thus draws on the Greek "kephalē," meaning "head," a reference to the fungal spore-bearing structures, and "sporos," meaning "seed." The brand name Keflex was created by the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company, which marketed the drug in the United States. The name was formed by shortening "cephalexin," taking the "Kef" from its opening syllables and adding "lex," a common pharmaceutical suffix that suggests a lexicon or a dependable, precise agent. Eli Lilly's marketing team likely chose the name for ease of pronunciation and memorability, though the exact reasoning is not recorded in published sources.