Meningococcal

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to or caused by a type of bacteria that can lead to serious infections such as meningitis and septicemia, often affecting the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord
2. Pertaining to infections or vaccines involving bacteria known for causing inflammation of the protective membranes of the brain and blood poisoning
3. Connected with a microorganism responsible for severe diseases involving brain coverings and blood infection, commonly addressed in medical and immunization contexts

Etymology: "Meningococcal" is a plain technical formation: it is built from "meningococcus" plus the adjectival suffix "-al". The base word "meningococcus" combines two Greek-derived elements. "Meningo-" comes from Greek "mēnigx" (genitive "mēningos"), meaning membrane, and refers to the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord. "-coccus" comes from Greek "kokkos", meaning berry or grain, and is the standard suffix for spherical bacteria. So the name describes a round, berry-shaped bacterium that attacks those membranes. The suffix "-al" has a longer ancestry. It descends from Latin "-ālis", which was used to form adjectives meaning "pertaining to", and reached English through Old French and Middle English. English speakers have used it for centuries to turn nouns into adjectives, as in "national" or "normal". The word is a modern coinage. Its base, "meningococcus", belongs to the bacteriology of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when scientists needed names for newly identified microbes, and it was built from classical roots rather than used by ancient Greeks or Romans.

Synonyms: meningitis-related