antibody

Etymology

It is a translation from German Antikörper,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} formed from English anti- + body on the model of the German word,^[2][6][8] which Paul Ehrlich used in 1891.^[2] The German word is made of anti- (“against”) and Körper (“body”);^[3][6] Barnhart and Etymonline think it was condensed from a phrase such as anti-toxischer Körper (“antitoxic body or substance”).^[9][8] Klein calls the English word a hybrid of Ancient Greek ἀντί (antí, “against”) and English body.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A protein produced in the body that binds to a foreign substance as part of an immune response: 1894, in G. A. Buckmaster in Science Progress.^[2][4] Barnhart and Etymonline date the word to 1901,^[7][8] Dictionary.com to 1895–1900.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In its early use the word referred to a substance in the blood acting as an antitoxin, and Barnhart defines it as a substance that weakens or destroys bacteria and neutralizes their toxins.^[8][7] Modern dictionaries define it as one of the immunoglobulins, proteins made by B cells in response to an antigen.^[4][12] A figurative use, for something produced in reaction to a threat or offering protection against harm, is recorded from 1920.^[2]

Timeline

• 1891 – German Antikörper, in Ehrlich.^[2]
• 1894 – English antibody, in immunology.^[2][4]
• 1901 – the date in Barnhart and Etymonline.^[7][8]
• 1920 – figurative use.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of a large group of proteins (immunoglobulins) produced by the immune system in response to an antigen, which bind to it and help to neutralize or destroy it.^[4][12][2]
2. (figurative) Something produced in reaction to a threat, or that protects against harm.^[2]

Word family

• alloantibody
• anti-antibody
• autoantibody
• isoantibody
• monoclonal antibody
• polyclonal antibody

Related words

• antigen
• antitoxin
• anti-
• body

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins