Etymologically
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allergic

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:39. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /əˈlɜː.dʒɪk/[1]
  • US: /əˈlɝ.dʒɪk/[1]

Etymology

It was formed from English allergy + -ic in English,[2][3][4][5] after German allergisch, which the Austrian paediatrician Clemens von Pirquet used in 1906.[2] Barnhart and Etymonline note that French allergique is recorded in 1906 as well, and Etymonline thinks the English word may be modelled on it.[6][3] Merriam-Webster treats it as a word of the international scientific vocabulary.[7] Allergy itself is Allergie, coined by Pirquet in 1906[2][6][3] from Ancient Greek ἄλλος (állos, “other, different, strange”);[2][8][3] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary take the second part from ἔργον (érgon, “work, action”),[3][8] while the OED and the Oxford Dictionary of English see the ending of ἐνέργεια (enérgeia, “activity”), on the pattern of Energie.[2][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the nature of allergy, relating to it or caused by it: 1908, in The Lancet.[2][10] Merriam-Webster also gives 1908,[7] while Etymonline and Barnhart date the English adjective to 1911,[3][6] and Dictionary.com to 1910–15.[5]

Semantic evolution

The sense "having an allergy to a particular substance" is recorded from 1917, in the American Journal of Botany.[2] The figurative sense, sensitive to or averse to someone or something, appeared within a generation:[2][3] the OED's first example is a New Yorker caption of 1937,[2][11] and Etymonline dates it to 1936.[3] Green's Dictionary of Slang treats this use as originally American, usually with hostile overtones, and quotes Punch in 1942 for a British example.[11] Collins still labels it informal.[12]

Timeline

  • 1906 – allergisch used by Pirquet; allergique is also recorded.[2][6]
  • 1908 – of or caused by allergy.[2][7]
  • 1911 – Etymonline's and Barnhart's date for the adjective.[3][6]
  • 1917 – having an allergy to a substance.[2]
  • 1937 – figurative, averse or antipathetic to something.[2][11]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to or caused by an allergy: an allergic rash.
  2. Having an allergy, usually with to: My brother is allergic to peanuts.
  3. (informal) Having a strong dislike of something, with to: He seems allergic to housework.

Word family

  • antiallergic
  • nonallergic
  • photoallergic
  • allergic rhinitis

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  11. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins