Greek and Latin Roots of English: Antibiotic

According to the Etymology Dictionary antibiotic is something "destructive to micro-organisms¨. In the picture the antibiotic is a heroe for the body: It is Superantibiotic!!!

Antibiotic derives from French antibiotique¨ , from Greek anti + biotikos¨fit for life¨. As a noun, first recorded 1941, in works of physician Selman Waskman, discoverer of streptomycin.

Other words with the prefix anti- are: anticlimax, antimatter, antipope. Another word with the root -biotic is probiotic, and other words formed by bio-¨life¨ biodiversity and biogenesis.

Greek and Latin Roots of English: Antibiotic