immunological

The word 'immunological' is a modern scientific compound built upon the Latin legal term immunis, which originally meant 'exempt from public service or burden'. This sense of exemption was metaphorically applied in medicine to describe the body's resistance to infection. The Greek element -logia (study) was appended to form 'immunology', the science of this resistance. Finally, the adjectival suffix -ical was added, creating a term that precisely denotes anything pertaining to the scientific study of the immune system.

Structure: immuno (immune) + log (study) + ical (adjective suffix) - immuno: From Latin immunis (exempt, free from public service), via English 'immune'. In this word, it functions as the core root meaning 'immune'. - log: From Greek -logia (study, discourse), via the combining form -logy. In this word, it functions as a root meaning 'study of'. - ical: A compound adjectival suffix from Latin -icus + -alis, meaning 'pertaining to' or 'of the nature of'.