alexipharmic
English
WOTD – 22 September 2022
Etymology
A variant of alexipharmac + -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives).[1] Alexipharmac is borrowed from the following:[2]
- As a noun, from Middle French alexipharmaque (modern French alexipharmaque (archaic)), and from its etymon Latin alexipharmacon (“antidote”) (whence Late Latin alexipharmacum), from Ancient Greek ἀλεξῐφᾰ́ρμᾰκον (alexĭphắrmăkon, “antidote; (generally) remedy; charm, spell”), a noun use of the neuter of ἀλεξῐφᾰ́ρμᾰκος (alexĭphắrmăkos, “acting as an antidote”), from ἀλέξειν (aléxein) (the active infinitive of ἀλέξω (aléxō, “to defend, guard, protect; to help; to keep off, turn aside, ward off”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂lek- (“to protect”)) + φάρμᾰκον (phármăkon, “drug, whether healing or poisonous; charm, potion, spell; colour, dye”) + -ος (-os, suffix forming certain types of adjectives).
- As an adjective, from French alexipharmaque (archaic), and from its etymon Late Latin alexipharmacus, from Ancient Greek ἀλεξιφάρμακος (alexiphármakos) (see above).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əˌlɛksɪˈfɑːmɪk/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /əˌlɛksəˈfɑɹmɪk/
- Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)mɪk
- Hyphenation: alex‧i‧pharm‧ic
Noun
alexipharmic (plural alexipharmics)
- (pharmacology, chiefly archaic or historical, also figuratively) Synonym of alexipharmac (“a medical remedy for protecting the body, or an antidote, against harmful substances, especially a poison or venom (specifically, that of a snake)”); an antidote.
- Synonyms: (all archaic or historical) alexipharmacal, alexipharmacon, alexipharmakon, alexipharmacum
Coordinate terms
Related terms
Translations
See also
Adjective
alexipharmic (comparative more alexipharmic, superlative most alexipharmic)
- (pharmacology, chiefly archaic or historical) Synonym of alexipharmac (“of or pertaining to an alexipharmac; also, acting as an alexipharmac by protecting against or warding off the ill effects of a harmful substance, especially a poison or venom”).
- Synonyms: (both archaic or historical) alexipharmacal, alexipharmical
Translations
synonym of alexipharmac — see alexipharmac
References
- ^ “alexipharmic, n. and adj.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2021; “alexipharmic, n. and adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- ^ “alexipharmac, n. and adj.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2021; “alexipharmac, n. and adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.