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immunization

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Etymology and origin of the English word immunization

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1889 Science More words from the 19th century
Ultimate origin
Latin mūnis
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin immūnis
English immune
English immunization
From the same root
Latin immūnitās ← immūnis
English autoimmune ← immune

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌɪmjənaɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/, /ˌɪmjʊnaɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/[1]
  • US: /ˌɪmjənəˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English immunize + -ation,[2][3][4] probably after German Immunisierung, recorded from 1888;[2] the OED compares French immunisation, from 1894.[2] The verb immunize is itself modelled on immunisieren,[2][5] and Etymonline dates it to 1889, in a translation of a German article.[3] Immune is from Latin immūnis (“exempt from public service or tax”),[3][2] formed from in- (“not”) and mūnis (“performing services”).[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The production of immunity in an organism: 1889, in the journal Science.[2] The 1989 edition of the OED had 1893,[6] Etymonline gives 1892,[3] and Dictionary.com dates the word to 1890–95.[4]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant making a body immune to a disease, especially by inoculation or vaccination.[2][3] A figurative sense, protecting someone or something against any threat, appears in 1893, in a translation of R. Virchow,[2] and finance borrowed it in 1971 for a technique that removes interest-rate risk from a portfolio of fixed-income assets.[2]

Timeline

  • 1889 – the production of immunity, especially by vaccination.[2]
  • 1893 – figurative, protection against a threat.[2]
  • 1971 – in finance, protection of a portfolio against interest-rate risk.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The making of a person or animal immune to a disease, especially by vaccination or inoculation: a campaign of measles immunization.[5][2]
  2. Protection of someone or something against a threat.[2]
  3. (finance) A technique for removing interest-rate risk from a fixed-income portfolio.[2]

Word family

  • hyperimmunization
  • autoimmunization

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged notes the British spelling immunisation.[5]

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 n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Immunization.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/immunization. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·