gentamicin

[jen-tuh-mahy-sin]

noun Pharmacology.

a highly toxic broad-spectrum antibiotic mixture of related aminoglycoside substances derived from the actinomycete bacterium Micromonospora purpurea, used in its sulfate form in the treatment of severe Gram-negative infections.

Origin of gentamicin

1963; respelling of gentamycin, probably equivalent to gent(ian violet) + -a- (as in kanamycin) + -mycin; so called from the color of the source bacterium

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British Dictionary definitions for gentamicin

gentamicin

noun

a broad-spectrum antibiotic used in the treatment of serious infections

Word Origin for gentamicin

C20: from genta (of unknown origin) + -mycin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012