Plural of antipyic; substances or treatments that prevent or reduce the formation of pus and help fight infection.
From anti- (against) + pyics (from Greek pyon, pus). The plural form of the adjective used as a noun, common in medical literature describing categories of therapeutic agents.
Antipyics represent early medical thinking about infection—doctors noticed that certain substances prevented the yellowish pus from forming and theorized (correctly) that something in these treatments was fighting the underlying cause.
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