Zoonotic

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˌzəʊ.əˈnɒ.tɪk/

Definitions

1. Describing diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans
2. Pertaining to illnesses that originate in animals and are capable of infecting people
3. Referring to infections that can jump from non-human animals to humans

Etymology: Zoonotic is a modern scientific coinage, built on the word "zoonosis" with the suffix "-otic" attached. The base "zoonosis" joins Greek "zoon," meaning animal, to "nosos," meaning disease, and the suffix "-otic" was taken into English from Latin "-oticus," which came through French "-otique." Its use is therefore recent and technical rather than ancient, and the Greek elements do not themselves describe a disease carried by animals; that sense was assembled later from the parts. The suffix "-otic" appears in many scientific adjectives, such as "neurotic" and "narcotic," and its job here is simply to turn the noun into a describing word. Strictly speaking, "zoonotic" means "relating to zoonoses," the diseases that pass from animals to humans.

Synonyms: infectious, communicable