Vax
/væks/noun
A colloquial shortening of vaccine or vaccination.
Did you know?The word ultimately traces back to Latin *vacca* (“cow”), because the first vaccine came from cowpox, making this one of history’s strangest medical word origins.
Etymological Timeline
Latin
Latin
vacca
“cow”
1790s
Latin/English
vaccina
“of or from cows; used in the naming of cowpox-based inoculation”
1798
English
vaccine
“cowpox used to protect against smallpox; later, an inoculating preparation”
20th Century
English
vaccination
“the act of immunizing with a vaccine”
Late 20th Century
English
vax
“informal shortening of vaccine or vaccination”