antidote (English)

Where does "antidote" come from?

The English noun 'antidote' traces its lineage back through Latin 'antidotum' to Ancient Greek 'ἀντίδοτος'[1][2], meaning 'antidote, remedy'[1]. This Greek term derives from the verb 'ἀντιδίδωμι', meaning 'I give in return, repay', which is formed from 'ἀντί' meaning 'against' combined with 'δίδωμι' meaning 'to give'[1][4]. The root verb 'δίδωμι' extends further into Proto-Indo-European through the reconstructed form '*dédeh₃ti', a reduplicated present built upon the root '*deh₃-' meaning 'to give'[5][6].

Open questions

The Proto-Indo-European forms and root connections are linguistic reconstructions. [5] [6] [7]

Full etymology tree

antidote (English), 'A remedy to counteract the effects of poison.'
- borrowed antidotum (Latin), 'a remedy against poison; an antidote'
  - inherited ἀντίδοτος (antídotos) (Ancient Greek), 'given in lieu of'
    - derived ἀντιδίδωμι (antidídōmi) (Ancient Greek), 'to give in return, repay'
      - compound ἀντι- (anti-) (Ancient Greek), 'anti-, against'
        inherited *h₂énti (Proto-Indo-European), 'opposite'
      - compound δίδωμι (dídōmi) (Ancient Greek), 'to give, present, offer, provide'
        inherited *dédeh₃ti (Proto-Indo-European), 'to be giving'
        derived *deh₃- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to give'
    - suffix -τος (-tos) (Ancient Greek), 'Creates perfective passive verbal adjectives (usually accented recessively)'

Ancestors

*deh₃- (Proto-Indo-European)
antidotum (Latin)
ἀντίδοτος (Ancient Greek)

Cognates and doublets

antidote (French)

Descendants and derived words

antiantidote (English)
antidotary (English)
antidotary (English)
antidotical (English)

Sources

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris