# vaccine

> English word · Adjective · IPA /vækˈsin/ · frequency rank #7,188

## Definitions
1. Of, pertaining to, caused by, or characteristic of cowpox.
2. Of or pertaining to cowpox as a source of material for vaccination against smallpox; also, of or pertaining to such material used for vaccination.
3. Of, pertaining to, or derived from cattle.

## Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin vaccīnus (“of or derived from a cow”), from vacca (“cow (female cattle)”) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Sense 1 refers to the early use of the cowpox virus as a vaccination against smallpox: see New Latin variolae vaccīnae (“cowpox”, plural, literally “infectious diseases of cattle causing pustules”), coined by the British physician and scientist Edward Jenner (1749–1823).

## Easily confused with
- **vaccinate** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/vaccinate-vs-vaccine)

## Common misspellings (8)
`avccine`, `vaccien`, `vaccinne`, `vaccnie`, `vacicne`, `vacine`, `vcacine`, `vvaccine`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/vaccine