immunology

Etymology

It is formed from English immuno- + -logy,^[2][3][4][5] which Merriam-Webster places in the International Scientific Vocabulary.^[3] Etymonline calls it a hybrid of immune and -ology, and the Shorter Oxford takes the first part from immunity.^[6][7] The combining form is the adjective with a connecting -o-,^[2] and the adjective comes from Latin immūnis (“exempt from public service, untaxed”), from in- (“not”) and mūnis (“performing services”).^[6][8] The second part comes through Medieval Latin -logia and French -logie from Ancient Greek -λογία (-logía),^[6][5] from -λόγος (-lógos, “one who speaks; one who deals with a topic”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The study of the phenomena of immunity: 1906, in the Journal of the American Medical Association of 12 May.^[2][6] Merriam-Webster gives 1910,^[3] and Dictionary.com 1905–10.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to a group of scientific formations in immuno- that appeared at the beginning of the 20th century in English, French and German alike.^[2] It rests on the medical sense of immune, protected from a disease, recorded by 1881 as a back-formation from immunity; the body's immune system was so named by 1917.^[6] The OED, revised in 2008, now defines the field as the study of the structure and function of the immune system as well as of immunity.^[2] The adjectives immunologic and immunological and the noun immunologist also date from the early 20th century.^[7]

Timeline

• 1906 – the study of immunity.^[2][6] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1910.^[3]
• early 20th century – immunological, immunologist.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The branch of biological and medical science that studies immunity and the structure and working of the immune system.^[2][9][3]
2. A treatise on this science.^[3]

Word family

• immunologic
• immunologically
• immunologist
• neuroimmunology
• radioimmunology

Related words

• immune
• immunity

References

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