vaccination

Etymology

It is formed from English vaccine + -ation,^[2][3][4] from the adjective meaning "of or from cows", recorded from 1798,^[3] itself from Latin vaccīnus (“of or from a cow”), from vacca (“cow”),^[2][3] a word of uncertain origin;^[3] it was used especially in Edward Jenner's scientific Latin variolae vaccinae (“cowpox”) (1798).^[2][3] Etymonline says that Jenner used the word for the technique he made known,^[3] and Klein that he coined it.^[5] The Shorter Oxford derives it from vaccinate,^[6] and Merriam-Webster from French vaccination;^[7] the OED notes that the French word, Italian vaccinazione and Portuguese vaccinação are all recorded by 1801.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The infection of a person with cowpox, by inoculating material from its pocks, to protect against smallpox: 1800, in R. Dunning's Some Observations on Vaccination.^[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline explains that in the 18th century the protection against smallpox in England was "variolation", deliberate infection with the milder form of smallpox, and that Jenner's method was safer because it used no smallpox at all.^[3] From 1868 the word was used for giving any vaccine to a person or animal,^[2] and this wider use became common through Louis Pasteur's work in the 1870s and 1880s.^[2][3] The word also came to mean the scar left on the skin by vaccinating,^[8][9] and in the late 20th century, in computing, the running of a program that protects against viruses.^[6]

Timeline

• 1798 – Jenner's Latin variolae vaccinae, cowpox.^[2][3]
• 1800 – inoculation with cowpox against smallpox.^[2][3][7]
• 1801 – French, Italian and Portuguese equivalents recorded.^[2]
• 1868 – the giving of any vaccine; immunization.^[2]
• late 20th century – in computing, the use of a vaccine program.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The giving of a vaccine to a person or animal to produce immunity against a disease; immunization.^[7][8][2][9]
2. Originally, inoculation with cowpox material as a protection against smallpox.^[2][3][6]
3. The scar left on the skin by vaccinating.^[8][9]

Word family

• nonvaccination
• postvaccination
• prevaccination
• revaccination
• antivaccination
• provaccination

Related words

• vaccinate
• vaccinator
• vaccine
• vaccinia

References

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