November 13, 2020

QUESTION:

The Latin word for cow, Vacca, is the root of which other word that was in the news a lot this week?

(Scroll down for answer)

ANSWER:

Vaccine

In the late 18th Century, an English general practitioner named Edward Jenner discovered that you could inoculate people against smallpox by exposing them to cowpox, a similar virus found in cows, and the term “vaccination” followed from that.

Read more about the origins of vaccines at ScienceFriday.com.