Effective against or preventing scabies, a contagious skin disease caused by mites.
From anti- (against) + scabious (from Latin scabies, roughness or itch). Scabious comes from scabere, to scratch. The term developed in medical practice as treatments for this disease became available in the medieval and early modern periods.
Antiscabious treatments like sulfur baths were used for centuries—sulfur is still used today because it actually works, proving that medieval doctors sometimes got the chemistry right even without understanding germ theory.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.