Comment

Comment by bluefinity

While "toxin" refers specifically to a poison produced by a living cell or organism, "toxic" does not -- it's a synonym of poisonous, directly derived from the Latin word for "poisonous".

"Toxin" is a newer invention, derived from "toxic" by adding the biochemistry-related suffix "-in" to indicate toxic substances of biological origin.

parent bluefinity 4 years ago

No comments yet

Be the first to share your thoughts.

Live from the official Hacker News API

A modern reader for Hacker News · SvelteKit + Skeleton