Substances that cause allergic reactions in people; things that trigger the immune system to overreact and cause symptoms like sneezing or itching.
Formed from 'allergy' (from Greek 'allos' meaning other, and 'ergon' meaning work/reaction) plus the suffix '-in' (a substance). The term emerged in early 20th-century medicine.
Your immune system has a dramatic overreaction to allergins—pollen and peanuts are harmless to most people, but some immune systems treat them like invaders and launch a full defense response, creating misery in the process!
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