zymotic
/zai'mɔtik/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Relating to or caused by infection: Describes a disease or condition that is infectious or contagious, often used in historical medical contexts.
- Of or relating to or causing fermentation: Pertaining to the chemical process of fermentation, where microorganisms like yeast or bacteria convert organic substances.
Usage Examples
Adjective (Medical Context):
- In the 19th century, cholera was considered a zymotic disease.
- The doctor studied the zymotic spread of the illness through the population.
Adjective (Fermentation Context):
- The zymotic activity of yeast is essential for brewing beer.
- They researched the zymotic processes involved in cheese making.
Advanced Usage
- "Zymotic theory": A historical medical theory that attributed certain diseases to a process analogous to fermentation or to a specific poison acting as a ferment in the body.
- The zymotic theory of disease was influential before the germ theory was fully established.
Variants and Related Words
Zymosis (n): 1. (Medicine, archaic) An infectious or zymotic disease. 2. (Biochemistry) Fermentation.
- The term 'zymosis' is rarely used in modern medical texts.
Zymogen (n): An inactive precursor of an enzyme, requiring a biochemical change to become active.
- Pepsinogen is a zymogen that is activated to become pepsin in the stomach.
Zymurgy (n): The branch of chemistry concerned with fermentation processes, as in brewing.
- He studied zymurgy to become a master brewer.
Synonyms
- Fermentative: Causing or involving fermentation.
- Infectious: (For the medical sense) Capable of being spread by infection.
Different Meanings
- The primary modern understanding is biochemical, relating to fermentation.
- The medical meaning is now archaic and historical, having been largely replaced by terms like "infectious" or "contagious."
Adjective
- relating to or caused by infection
- of or relating to or causing fermentation