Etymology

horror autotoxicus

Today it means: The now-discredited principle that the body will not harm itself by its own immune reactions. Full definition →

Latin horror
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromhorror
  2. English todayhorror autotoxicus

Latinate neologism coined c. 1900 by Paul Ehrlich in German, from Latin horror, auto- (“self”), toxicus (“toxic”). Compare horror vacui.

Words from the same roots

Latinhorror all →

horror

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.