cytotoxic
|cy-to-tox-ic|
🇺🇸
/ˌsaɪtəˈtɑksɪk/
🇬🇧
/ˌsaɪtəʊˈtɒksɪk/
poison to cells
Etymology
'cytotoxic' originates from a modern (Neo‑Latin/English) formation combining the prefix 'cyto-' (from Greek 'kytos', meaning 'container, cell') and the adjective 'toxic' (from Greek 'toxikon', meaning 'poison').
'cyto-' was borrowed from Greek 'kytos' into New Latin as the combining form 'cyto-'; 'toxic' comes from Greek 'toxikon' which passed into Latin as 'toxicus' and into English as 'toxic'. The compound 'cytotoxic' was formed in modern scientific/medical English (20th century).
The components originally meant 'cell' and 'poison'; over time the compound came to mean specifically 'poisonous or damaging to cells' in biological and medical contexts.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
harmful or destructive to living cells; causing cell damage or cell death (used especially of drugs, chemicals, or immune responses).
Many chemotherapy drugs are cytotoxic and target rapidly dividing cells.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/10/01 11:33