antiantitoxin
|an-ti-an-ti-tox-in|
🇺🇸
/ˌæn.tiˌæn.tɪˈtɑk.sɪn/
🇬🇧
/ˌæn.tiˌæn.tɪˈtɒk.sɪn/
against an antitoxin
Etymology
'antiantitoxin' is formed from the combining element 'anti-' (Greek, meaning 'against') plus 'antitoxin' (anti- + 'toxin').
'antitoxin' arose in the late 19th century (from anti- + toxin, with 'toxin' from Greek 'toxikon'), and the compound 'antiantitoxin' was later formed in medical literature to denote an agent opposed to an antitoxin.
Originally 'antitoxin' meant 'a substance that neutralizes a toxin.' 'Antiantitoxin' was coined to mean 'a substance that neutralizes an antitoxin'; the term is specialized and relatively rare.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
an antibody or antiserum that acts against an antitoxin, neutralizing the antitoxin's effect.
The researchers detected an antiantitoxin in the experimental animals that neutralized the therapeutic antitoxin.
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Noun 2
rare/archaic: any agent that inactivates or counteracts an antitoxin (used in historical discussions of serum therapy and immunology).
Early accounts of serum therapy sometimes mention substances described as antiantitoxin that interfered with treatment.
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Last updated: 2025/08/27 11:07