toxicité

Forms

toxicité f (plural toxicités)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French toxique + -ité.^[2][1][3] The adjective is from Latin toxicum, from Ancient Greek τοξικόν (toxikón), properly the poison smeared on arrows, from τόξον (tóxon, “bow”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1865, in the medical dictionary of Littré and Robin, for the property of a substance that can poison a living organism.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Littré's own dictionary gave it in 1872 as a medical term, with the example of thebaine;^[7][3] the Grand Robert finds it in 1869.^[8] From 1904 it also meant the coefficient of toxicity, the smallest dose that kills, expressed in weight of substance per kilogram of the animal.^[3][2] The word gave the antonym atoxicité in the 20th century and écotoxicité in 1989.^[6]

Timeline

• 1865 – First record, in Littré and Robin.^[2][5][6]
• 1869 – Recorded in L'Année scientifique et industrielle.^[8]
• 1872 – Littré's dictionary includes it.^[3][4]
• 1904 – Larousse gives the sense “coefficient of toxicity”.^[3]
• 1989 – The compound écotoxicité is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Toxicity: the property of a substance that can poison a living organism.^[2][5][9]
2. (medicine) The coefficient of toxicity, the smallest lethal dose of a substance per kilogram of body weight.^[5][3]

Word family

• atoxicité
• écotoxicité

Related words

• toxique
• toxine
• toxicologie

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)