What does "alexin" mean?

A protective substance that exists in the serum or other bodily fluid and is capable of killing microorganisms; complement.

What is a synonym for "alexin"?

Common synonyms include: complement, toxosozine.

//əˈlɛk.sɪn// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A protective substance that exists in the serum or other bodily fluid and is capable of killing microorganisms; complement. countable, dated, uncountable
"The seed of our destruction will blossom in the desert, the alexin of our cure grows by a mountain rock […]"

"The seed of our destruction will blossom in the desert, the alexin of our cure grows by a mountain rock […]"

Ultimately from German Alexine, coined by Hans Buchner in 1891 from the Ancient Greek ἀλέξω (aléxō).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.