vaccine

English Online Dictionary. What means vaccine‎? What does vaccine mean?

English

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin vaccīnus (“of or derived from a cow”), from vacca (“cow (female cattle)”) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Sense 1 refers to the early use of the cowpox virus as a vaccination against smallpox: see New Latin variolae vaccīnae (“cowpox”, plural, literally “infectious diseases of cattle causing pustules”), coined by the British physician and scientist Edward Jenner (1749–1823).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) /ˈvæksiːn/, /-sɪn/, (obsolete except sense 2) /-saɪn/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /vækˈsin/, /ˈvækˌsin/
• Rhymes: (GA) -iːn
• Hyphenation: vacc‧ine

Adjective

vaccine (not comparable)

1. (historical)
   1. (medicine) Of, pertaining to, caused by, or characteristic of cowpox.
   2. (immunology) Of or pertaining to cowpox as a source of material for vaccination against smallpox; also, of or pertaining to such material used for vaccination.
2. (archaic) Of, pertaining to, or derived from cattle.

   Synonym: bovine

Translations

Etymology 2

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) /ˈvæksiːn/, /-sɪn/, (obsolete) /-saɪn/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /vækˈsin/, /ˈvækˌsin/
• Rhymes: (GA) -iːn
• Hyphenation: vacc‧ine

Noun

vaccine (countable and uncountable, plural vaccines)

1. (immunology)
   1. A substance given to stimulate a body's production of antibodies and provide immunity against a disease without causing the disease itself in the treatment, prepared from the agent that causes the disease (or a derivative of it; or a related, also effective, but safer disease), or a synthetic substitute; also, a dose of such a substance.
   2. The process of vaccination; immunization, inoculation.

   3. (historical) material taken from cowpox pustules used for vaccination against smallpox.
   4. (also medicine, obsolete) The disease cowpox, especially as a source of material for vaccination against smallpox.
2. (figuratively)
   1. Something defensive or protective in nature, like a vaccine (sense 1.1).
   2. (computing) A software program which protects computers against, or detects and neutralizes, computer viruses and other types of malware; an antivirus.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• jab
• shot

Verb

vaccine (third-person singular simple present vaccines, present participle vaccining, simple past and past participle vaccined)

1. (transitive, archaic) Synonym of vaccinate (“to treat (a person or an animal) with a vaccine to produce immunity against a disease”)

   Synonyms: immunize, inoculate

Translations

References

Further reading

• vaccine on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Danish

Noun

vaccine c (singular definite vaccinen, plural indefinite vacciner)

1. vaccine

Declension

Related terms

• vaccination
• vaccinere

References

• “vaccine” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Pronunciation

Verb

vaccine

1. inflection of vacciner:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Italian

Adjective

vaccine f pl

1. feminine plural of vaccino

Anagrams

• vinacce

Romanian

Noun

vaccine

1. plural of vaccină