allergy
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed 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[edit]
Noun[edit]
allergy (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[edit]
From 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[edit]
Descendants[edit]
- → Cebuano: alerdyi
Translations[edit]
disorder of the immune system
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hypersensitivity
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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[edit]
Categories:
- 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