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Glite Dictionary
agglutinogen

agglutinogen

9.9
A substance on red blood cells that makes the body make antibodies
  • noun
  • /əˈɡluːtɪnədʒən/
  • Specialized
translation icon : aglutinógeno
  • The presence of specific agglutinogens in the blood can help determine a person's blood type.

Examples

  • The scientist explained how the agglutinogen from type A blood reacts with anti-A antibodies.

  • Then they found out about the blood groups, and later on about how the agglutinogens combine with certain agglutinins and not others.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • During the experiment, we measured the response of the immune system to different agglutinogens.

Synonyms

antigen
vsagglutinogen
  • Specialized
15 5.0

A substance that makes the body's defence system produce antibodies

is the specific type that induces only agglutinin production rather than any antibody
isoagglutinogen
vsagglutinogen
  • Specialized
9.9

A substance on red blood cells that can make a person's body attack blood from another person

is the broader substance that prompts agglutinin production beyond transfusion cases

Surface Forms

agglutinogen singular
agglutinogens plural

Morphology

agglutinogen = agglutinate (opaque) = agglutin + ogen

The stem 'agglutin-' is a bound combining form (not a standalone common word) and the suffix '-ogen' is a technical scientific combining form meaning 'that which produces', so the meaning is not readily inferable by an average B1 learner.

Etymology

Agglutinogen comes from parts that mean 'glue' and 'to produce': agglutin- from a word for 'glue' and -gen meaning 'to produce'. So an agglutinogen is a substance on blood cells that makes them 'stick' or 'clump' and causes the body to make the antibodies that do the clumping.