Vaccinant

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. A person or organism receiving an immunization to induce resistance to a specific disease ; an animal or subject being immunized in the process of vaccination ; the recipient of a vaccine during a medical or experimental procedure
2. The individual or animal undergoing administration of a vaccine to provoke immune protection ; the subject of a vaccination procedure in medical or research settings ; one who receives a vaccination substance
3. Someone or something being injected or exposed to biological preparations to generate immunity ; an organism that is given a vaccine as part of disease prevention ; the entity immunized through the act of vaccination

Etymology: The root is the Latin "vacca," meaning cow. Edward Jenner's work protecting people against smallpox used material from cowpox, and the procedure took its name from that animal source through "vaccinus," meaning "from cows." Vaccine, vaccinate, and this term all trace back to cattle. The ending "-ant" comes from Latin present participles, a suffix that usually names an agent, as in "assistant" or "applicant." Here it names the one acted upon instead. The term is most likely built on "vaccinate," with the suffix added to describe the person or animal receiving the procedure, a sense that is common in medical and research writing.