immune English · revision 7311

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1420|origins=la immunis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɪˈmjuːn/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|immunis|t=exempt from public service, untaxed]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) from [[m|la|in-|t=not]] and mūnis, performing services (compare [[municipal]]),^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) which Watkins derives from PIE [[ine-pro|*mey-|alt=*mei-|t=to change, go, move]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Free or exempt, from taxes or other liabilities: about 1420.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The general sense free from a liability was common from the 15th to the 17th century.^(Cresswell 2021) The medical sense, protected against a disease, is from 1881,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) a back-formation from ''immunity'',^(Etymonline) and the noun, an immune person, from 1898.^(OED 1989) The body's ''immune system'' is so called by 1917.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1420 – exempt.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1881 – protected against disease.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1898 – an immune individual.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1917 – immune system.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Protected against a [[disease]], as by [[vaccination]] or natural resistance.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of or relating to [[immunity]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # [[exempt|alt=Exempt]] from an obligation that others have.^(AHD)

+ # Not affected by an influence.^(AHD)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A person who is immune.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[autoimmune]]

+ * [[hyperimmune]]

+ * [[immunization]]

+ * [[immunize]]

+ * [[immunology]]

+ * [[nonimmune]]

+ * [[acquired immune deficiency syndrome]]

+ * [[cell-mediated immune response]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[immunity]]

+ * [[municipal]]

+ * [[common]]

+ * [[communicate]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}