Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Mycotoxin
/ˌmaɪkoʊˈtɒksɪn/noun
A poisonous compound made by a mould or fungus, typically one that contaminates stored food.
The Greek roots
μύκης
mýkēs
fungus, mushroom
τοξικόν
toxikón
arrow poison
Literally: “fungus arrow-poison”
The story of the word
The poison half of the word comes from archery. Τοξικὸν φάρμακον was the drug smeared on arrowheads, from τόξον, a bow, and Latin took only the adjective, so every toxin in English is a bow-word with the bow filed off. Mycotoxin came into use in the 1960s, after more than a hundred thousand turkeys died in England in 1960 of what was traced to a mould in imported peanut meal.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1960s
Same family
mycologymycorrhizatoxicintoxicate
In a sentence
Grain is tested for mycotoxins before it goes anywhere near animal feed.
One damp harvest can put mycotoxin in an entire silo.