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Origin and history of noxious

noxious(adj.)

"unwholesome, harmful," c. 1500, noxius, from Latin noxius "hurtful, injurious," from noxa "injury, hurt, damage entailing liability" (related to nocere "to hurt," and to nex "slaughter"), from PIE *noks-, from root *nek- (1) "death." Related: Noxiously; noxiousness.

Entries linking to noxious

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "death." It might form all or part of: innocent; innocuous; internecine; necro-; necropolis; necrosis; necromancy; nectar; nectarine; nociceptive; nocuous; noxious; nuisance; obnoxious; pernicious.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit nasyati "disappears, perishes," Avestan nasyeiti "disappears," nasu- "corpse," Old Persian vi-nathayatiy "he injures;" Greek nekros "corpse;" Latin nex, genitive necis "violent death, murder" (as opposed to mors), nocere "to harm, hurt," noxius "harmful;" Greek nekus "dead" (adj.), nekros "dead body, corpse;" Old Irish ec, Breton ankou, Welsh angeu "death."

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