Toxicity

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /tɒkˈsɪs.ə.ti/

Definitions

1. The quality of being poisonous or harmful to living organisms, or the degree to which something is poisonous
2. the degree to which a substance or behavior causes harm, damage, or poisoning to organisms or social environments
3. the property of being poisonous or damaging, ranging from physical harm caused by toxic substances to harmful effects in relationships and communities

Etymology: Toxicity is a compound built from two pieces with very different histories. The first, "toxic," goes back to the Ancient Greek "tóxon," meaning "bow," the weapon. Greek speakers formed "toxikón" from it, meaning "(poison) for arrows," since poisons were smeared on arrowheads. The Romans borrowed the idea as "toxicum," and it passed into French as "toxique" before arriving in English as "toxic." The ending "-ity" tells a different story. It came into English through Old French from Latin "-itās," a suffix that turns an adjective into a noun naming its quality, so that "toxic" becomes "the state of being toxic." English speakers have attached it to many adjectives over the centuries, and "toxicity" simply applies it to "toxic," with no separate history of its own.

Synonyms: poisonousness, venomousness, harmfulness, danger, noxiousness

Antonyms: safety, harmlessness, benefit, wholesomeness, innocuousness