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Wiktionary

allergy

English

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Etymology

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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

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  • enPR: ălʹər-jē; IPA(key): /ˈæl.əɹ.d͡ʒi/
  • Hyphenation: al‧ler‧gy

Noun

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allergy (plural allergies)

  2. (medicine, immunology, broadly) 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.
    2. (medicine, immunology, strictly) Specifically, hypersensitivity of class I in the modern classification thereof: the immunoglobulin E–mediated type.
  3. (informal) An antipathy, as toward a person or activity.
    He has an allergy to reality TV.

Usage notes

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From its coining in 1906 until the 1960s, the word allergy always covered any kind of (what humans now call) 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

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Hypernyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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Translations

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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.

See also

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Anagrams

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