clindamycin

[ klin-duh-mahy-sin ]

noun

, Pharmacology.

1. a toxic semisynthetic antibiotic, C 18 H 33 ClN 2 O 5 S, used to treat serious infections chiefly due to various anaerobic bacteria, especially Bacteroides.

Word History and Origins

Origin of clindamycin¹

1965–70; by contraction and rearrangement of chloro-deoxylincomycin an alternate name, equivalent to chloro- ² + deoxy- + lincomycin an antibiotic produced by Streptomyces lincolnensis; -mycin