toxin
/ˈtɑksɪn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.30 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A toxic substance, specifically a poison produced by the biological processes of organisms.
Example Sentences
- "The blue-ringed octopus Hapalochlaena lunulata has tetrodotoxin, the deadly toxin it also releases in a bite, in their ink but the concentrations and effect in inking are not known."
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 *-nós Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos Proto-Italic *-īnos Latin -īnusder. Old French -inbor. Middle English -in English -ineclip. English -in English toxin From Latin toxicum, equivalent to toxi- + -in.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtɑksɪn/
- British English: /ˈtɒksɪn/