Link Centre Dictionary

vaccine

vac·cine

US/vækˈsin/ fairly common

noun

1.

immunogen consisting of a suspension of weakened or dead pathogenic cells injected in order to stimulate the production of antibodies

Synonyms

Origin

The noun is probably partly: * derived from vaccine (adjective) (see etymology 1); and * borrowed from French vaccine (“cowpox (short for variole vaccine); vaccination against smallpox using material from cowpox”), vaccin (“cowpox material used for smallpox vaccination”), both noun uses of vaccin (adjective), from Latin vaccīnus (see etymology 1). The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates * Italian vaccina * Portuguese vacina * Spanish vacuna

Phrases

  • abortion vaccine
  • candidate vaccine
  • DPT vaccine
  • MMR vaccine
  • Sabin vaccine
  • therapeutic vaccine
  • vaccine diplomacy
  • vaccine escape

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.