Standard Lemma guide

toxin

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈtɒksɪn/
  • General-American: /ˈtɑksɪn/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • homophone: tocsin
  • rhymes with -ɒksɪn
  • CMU ARPABET: T AA1 K S AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A toxic substance, specifically a poison produced by the biological processes of organisms.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: strictly

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: antitoxin, antidote, antivenom

2

noun

Meaning 2

Synonym of toxicant: a toxic substance in a body requiring removal.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, proscribed, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: toxicant

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a poisonous substance produced during the metabolism and growth of certain microorganisms and some higher plant and animal species

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: poison, toxicant, poisonous substance

Narrower terms: ricin, ricin toxin, animal toxin, zootoxin, bacterial toxin, cytotoxin, endotoxin, exotoxin, hepatotoxin, nephrotoxin, neurotoxin, neurolysin, plant toxin, phytotoxin

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Ancient Greek τόξον (tóxon) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ῐκός (-ĭkós) Ancient Greek τοξῐκός (toxĭkós) Ancient Greek τοξικόν (toxikón)der. Latin toxicum Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Indo-European *-iHnos Proto-Italic *-īnos Latin -īnusder. Old French -inbor. Middle English -in English -ineclip. English -in English toxin From Latin toxicum, equivalent to toxi- + -in.

Across languages

Translations

43 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: toxina — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Chinese Cantonese: 毒素 (duk6 sou3) — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Chinese: 毒素 (to̍k-sò͘) — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Chinese Mandarin: 毒素 (dúsù) — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Czech: toxin — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Danish: giftstof — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Danish: toksin — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Esperanto: toksino — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Finnish: toksiini — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Finnish: myrkky — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • French: toxine — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • German: Toxin — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • German: Giftstoff — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Greek: τοξίνη (toxíni) — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Hungarian: méreg — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Ido: toxino — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Indonesian: toksin — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Irish: tocsain — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Italian: tossina — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Japanese: 毒素 (dokuso) — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Kazakh: уыт (uyt) — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Korean: 독소 (dokso) — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Northern Kurdish: toksîn — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Latvian: toksīns — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Malay: toksin — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Malayalam: വിഷം (viṣaṁ) — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Māori: tāoke — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Marshallese: baijin — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Navajo: kʼaasdá — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Norwegian Bokmål: giftstoff — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Norwegian Bokmål: toksin — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: giftstoff — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: toksin — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Occitan: toxina — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Persian: زهرابه (zahrâbe) — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Polish: toksyna — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Portuguese: toxina — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Romanian: toxină — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Russian: токси́н (toksín) — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Spanish: toxina — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Swedish: toxin — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Vietnamese: toxin — a toxic or poisonous substance
  • Vietnamese: độc tố — a toxic or poisonous substance