toxic
/ˈtɒk.sɪk/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.24 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Having a chemical nature that is harmful to health or lethal if consumed or otherwise entering into the body in sufficient quantities.
adj
Appearing grossly unwell; characterised by serious, potentially life-threatening compromise in the respiratory, circulatory or other body systems.
adj
Of a person, hateful or strongly antipathetic.
Example Sentences
- "Tobacco smoke contains many toxic substances."
- "If some types of electronic waste aren’t incinerated at a high enough temperature, dioxins, which can cause cancer and developmental problems, infiltrate the food supply. Without proper safeguarding, toxic heavy metals seep into the soil and groundwater."
- "The child appeared toxic on arrival at the hospital."
- "a toxic environment that promoted bullying"
- "It is not good to be around toxic people."
- "Though Twitter is still overrun with toxic anger and fear-based nonsense (now more than ever), it is also, in one crucial way, beginning to play an important role in our response to the pandemic."
Etymology
Etymology tree Undeterminedder.? Ancient Greek τόξον (tóxon) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ῐκός (-ĭkós) Ancient Greek τοξῐκός (toxĭkós) Ancient Greek τοξικόν (toxikón)der. Latin toxicum Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Italic *-kos Latin -cus Latin toxicusbor. French toxiquebor. English toxic Borrowed from French toxique, from Late Latin toxicus (“poisoned”), from Latin toxicum (“poison”), from Ancient Greek τοξικόν (toxikón) [φάρμακον (phármakon)] ("poison for use on arrows"), from τοξικός (toxikós, “pertaining to arrows or archery”), from τόξον (tóxon, “bow”).
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: toxique, toxicus, toxicum, τοξικόν
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈtɒk.sɪk/
Inflected Forms
more toxic (comparative)
most toxic (superlative)