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vacuna

vaccine

noun bah-KOO-nah Rare

Origin: Latin vaccinus (of a cow), from Edward Jenner's cowpox experiments

Also means

vaccination

Usage Note

Vacuna derives from Latin vaccinus (of a cow) because Edward Jenner used cowpox (vacca = cow) for the first vaccine. In Spanish, both the preparation (la vacuna) and the act (poner una vacuna) use the same noun. The verb is vacunar; getting vaccinated is vacunarse. Do not confuse with vaca (cow), though they share the Latin root.

Examples

"La vacuna contra la gripe ya está disponible."

Natural Translation

The flu vaccine is already available.

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