Etymology

From toxin 'organic poison' (from Middle Latin toxicus 'poisonous', from Latin toxicum 'poison (for arrows)', from Ancient Greek (toxikon), from (toxa) 'arrows', from (toxon) 'bow') + albumin 'protein' (from French albumine, from Latin albumen 'egg white', from albus 'white'). The term was first used in about 1890 by the research chemists Ludwig Brieger (1849-1919) and Sigmund Fraenkel (1868-1939).