Nalidixic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A synthetic antibiotic primarily used to treat urinary tract infections caused by specific bacteria
2. An antimicrobial agent effective against certain gram-negative bacterial infections, particularly in the urinary system
3. A medicinal compound utilized for its antibacterial properties, especially in managing infections in the urinary tract

Etymology: Nalidixic acid is a synthetic compound, not a word that grew naturally over centuries, so its name is a technical coinage built from parts. The "nalid-" portion is a shortened form of the chemical name, and "-ixic" is a suffix chemists used for acids in this family. The "acid" in the name reflects the compound's chemistry: it is a carboxylic acid, the class that gives its name to the drug. The compound was discovered in the early 1960s during research at the Sterling-Winthrop laboratories, where chemists were working on a substance related to chloroquine, an antimalarial. Their by-product turned out to kill certain bacteria, and it became one of the first quinolone antibiotics, the forerunner of the later fluoroquinolones. Its name is therefore a record of its chemical structure rather than of any everyday meaning.