allergy
English
editEtymology
editBorrowed from German Allergie. Coined by Austrian pediatrician Clemens von Pirquet in 1906 from Ancient Greek ἄλλος (állos, “other”) + ἔργον (érgon, “work, activity”), on the model of Energie.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editallergy (plural allergies)
- (medicine, immunology, broadly) A disorder of the immune system causing adverse reactions to substances (allergens) not harmful to most and marked by the body's production of histamines and associated with atopy, anaphylaxis, and asthma; any condition of hypersensitivity to a substance.
- (medicine, immunology, strictly) Specifically, hypersensitivity of class I in the modern classification thereof: the immunoglobulin E–mediated type.
- (informal) An antipathy, as toward a person or activity.
- He has an allergy to reality TV.
Usage notes
editFrom its coining in 1906 until the 1960s, the word allergy always covered any kind of (what humans now call) hypersensitivity reactions. Since then, the word also has a stricter sense referring specifically to only a subset of them, mediated by a certain antibody. Both senses remain in wide use.
Synonyms
edit- (disorder of the immune system): type 1 hypersensitivity
- (hypersensitivity): intolerance
Hypernyms
edit- (disorder of the immune system): hypersensitivity
Derived terms
editDescendants
editTranslations
editdisorder of the immune system
|
hypersensitivity
|
altered susceptibility
antipathy
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also
edit- allergy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Hypersensitivity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
editCategories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂el- (other)
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *werǵ-
- English terms borrowed from German
- English terms derived from German
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Medicine
- en:Immunology
- English informal terms
- English terms with usage examples