toxic

See also: tòxic

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French toxique, from Late Latin toxicus (“poisoned”), from Latin toxicum (“poison”), from Ancient Greek τοξικόν (toxikón) [φάρμακον (phármakon)] ("poison for use on arrows"), from τοξικός (toxikós, “pertaining to arrows or archery”), from τόξον (tóxon, “bow”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɒk.sɪk/
• IPA^(key): /ˈtɑk.sɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɒksɪk

Adjective

toxic (comparative more toxic, superlative most toxic)

1. (toxicology) Having a chemical nature that is harmful to health or lethal if consumed or otherwise entering into the body in sufficient quantities.

   Tobacco smoke contains many toxic substances.

2. (medicine) Appearing grossly unwell; characterised by serious, potentially life-threatening compromise in the respiratory, circulatory or other body systems.

   The child appeared toxic on arrival at the hospital.

3. (figurative) Severely negative or harmful.

   a toxic environment that promoted bullying

4. (figurative, of a person) Hateful or strongly antipathetic.

   It is not good to be around toxic people.

Synonyms

• poisonous
• venomous

Related terms

• cytotoxic (adjective)
• toxicity (noun)
• toxic shock
• toxin (noun)
• intoxicate

Translations

having a harmful chemical nature

• Arabic: سَامّ (sāmm)
• Armenian: թունավոր (hy) (tʻunavor)
• Asturian: tóxicu
• Breton: pistrius (br)
• Bulgarian: токсичен (toksičen)
• Catalan: tòxic (ca), verinós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 有毒的 (yǒudú de)

• Czech: otravný, toxický (cs)
• Danish: giftig (da), toksisk
• Dutch: giftig (nl), toxisch (nl)
• Esperanto: toksa
• Estonian: mürgine, toksiline
• Finnish: myrkyllinen (fi), toksinen (fi)
• French: toxique (fr)
• Galician: tóxico
• Georgian: ტოქსიკური (ṭoksiḳuri)
• German: giftig (de), toxisch (de)
• Greek: τοξικός (el) (toxikós), δηλητηριώδης (el) (dilitiriódis)
• Hebrew: רעיל (he) (rayil)
• Hungarian: mérgező (hu)
• Ido: toxika (io)
• Irish: nimhiúil, tocsaineach
• Italian: tossico (it) m, tossica f
• Japanese: 毒性 (ja) (dokusei)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Khmer: ពុល (km) (pul)
• Korean: 유독 한 (yudok han)
• Latvian: indīgs, toksisks
• Lithuanian: toksiškas
• Maori: paitini, tāoke
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: giftig (no), toksisk

  Nynorsk: giftig (nn), toksisk

• Persian: زهری (fa)
• Polish: toksyczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: tóxico (pt) m, tóxica f
• Romanian: toxic (ro)
• Russian: токси́чный (ru) (toksíčnyj), ядови́тый (ru) (jadovítyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: то̀ксичан

  Roman: tòksičan (sh)

• Slovak: otravný, toxický (sk)
• Slovene: strupen (sl)
• Spanish: tóxico (es) m, tóxica (es) f
• Swedish: giftig (sv), toxisk (sv)
• Thai: เป็นพิษ (bpen-pít)
• Turkish: toksik (tr)
• Ukrainian: отруйний (otrujnyj), токсичний (toksyčnyj)
• Vietnamese: độc (vi)

References

• “toxic”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “toxic”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

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Interlingua

Adjective

toxic (comparative plus toxic, superlative le plus toxic)

1. toxic (chemically noxious to health)

Related terms

• toxicitate

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Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French toxique, Latin toxicus, from Ancient Greek τοξικόν (toxikón). See also toapsec.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtok.sik/, /tokˈsik/

Adjective

toxic m or n (feminine singular toxică, masculine plural toxici, feminine and neuter plural toxice)

1. toxic

Declension

Declension of toxic

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	toxic		toxică	toxici	toxice
	definite	toxicul		toxica	toxicii	toxicele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	toxic		toxice	toxici	toxice
	definite	toxicului		toxicei	toxicelor	toxicilor

Synonyms

• otrăvicios
• otrăvitor

Related terms

• intoxica
• toapsec