noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An antibiotic similar to penicillin, used for the treatment of a number of bacterial infections. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   an antibiotic (trade name Erythrocin or E-Mycin or Ethril or Ilosone or Pediamycin) obtained from the actinomycete Streptomyces erythreus; effective against many Gram-positive bacteria and some Gram-negative wordnet
3. 3
   A broad-spectrum macrolide antibiotic C₃₇H₆₇NO₁₃ produced by an actinomycete Saccharopolyspora erythraea (formerly Streptomyces erythreus) and similar in its effects to penicillin, administered orally or topically in the treatment of infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms

antibiotice-mycinerythrocinethrililosonepediamycin

Etymology

From (Streptomyces) erythr(eus) + -o- + -mycin (“antibiotic from a Streptomyces strain”).

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