immune

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪˈmjuːn/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin immunis (“exempt from public service, untaxed”),^[2][3][4] from in- (“not”) and mūnis, performing services (compare municipal),^[2][3] which Watkins derives from PIE Proto-Indo-European *mei- (“to change, go, move”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Free or exempt, from taxes or other liabilities: about 1420.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The general sense free from a liability was common from the 15th to the 17th century.^[6] The medical sense, protected against a disease, is from 1881,^[5][2] a back-formation from immunity,^[2] and the noun, an immune person, from 1898.^[5] The body's immune system is so called by 1917.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1420 – exempt.^[5]
• 1881 – protected against disease.^[5]
• 1898 – an immune individual.^[5]
• 1917 – immune system.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Protected against a disease, as by vaccination or natural resistance.
2. Of or relating to immunity.
3. Exempt from an obligation that others have.
4. Not affected by an influence.

Noun

1. A person who is immune.

Word family

• autoimmune
• hyperimmune
• immunization
• immunize
• immunology
• nonimmune
• acquired immune deficiency syndrome
• cell-mediated immune response

Related words

• immunity
• municipal
• common
• communicate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press