English
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from German Allergie. Coined by Austrian pediatrician Clemens von Pirquet in 1906 from Ancient Greek ἄλλος (állos, “other”) + ἔργον (érgon, “work, activity”), on the model of Energie.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]allergy (plural allergies)
- (medicine, immunology, loosely) A disorder of the immune system causing adverse reactions to substances (allergens) not harmful to most and marked by the body's production of histamines and associated with atopy, anaphylaxis, and asthma; any condition of hypersensitivity to a substance.
- (medicine, immunology, strictly) Specifically, hypersensitivity of class I in the modern classification thereof: the immunoglobulin E–mediated type.
- (informal, figuratively) An antipathy, as toward a person or activity.
- He has an allergy to reality TV.
Usage notes
[edit]- From its coining in 1906 until the 1960s, the word allergy always covered any kind of hypersensitivity reactions. Since then, the word also has a stricter sense referring specifically to only a subset of them, mediated by a certain antibody. Both senses remain in wide use.
Synonyms
[edit]- (disorder of the immune system): type 1 hypersensitivity
- (hypersensitivity): intolerance
Hypernyms
[edit]- (disorder of the immune system): hypersensitivity
Derived terms
[edit]- aeroallergy
- allergen
- allergic
- allergin
- allergist
- allergoid
- allergologist
- allergology
- allergylike
- allergy salute
- alpha-gal allergy
- antiallergy
- autoallergy
- cold allergy
- food allergy
- lone-star-tick meat allergy
- mammalian meat allergy
- nonallergy
- oral allergy syndrome
- photoallergy
- polyallergy
- pseudoallergy
- red meat allergy
- tick-induced meat allergy
- tick meat allergy
- total allergy syndrome
- water allergy
Descendants
[edit]Translations
[edit]disorder of the immune system
|
hypersensitivity
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altered susceptibility
antipathy
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also
[edit]
allergy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - Hypersensitivity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂el- (other)
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *werǵ-
- English terms borrowed from German
- English terms derived from German
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Medicine
- en:Immunology
- English informal terms
- English terms with usage examples