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Glite Dictionary
merbromine

merbromine

9.9
A red liquid used on cuts to prevent infection that contains mercury
  • noun
  • /ˌmɜrˈbroʊmin/
  • Archaic
translation icon : merbromina
  • The nurse applied merbromine to the child's scraped knee to prevent infection.

Examples

  • Older first aid kits often contained bottles of merbromine for treating minor cuts and abrasions.

  • Due to mercury content, the use of merbromine has been restricted in some countries.

  • The doctor recommended using merbromine for minor cuts.

  • I found some merbromine in the first aid kit.

  • Older first aid kits often contained bottles of merbromine for treating minor cuts and abrasions.

  • The nurse applied merbromine to the child's scraped knee to prevent infection.

  • Due to mercury content, the use of merbromine has been restricted in some countries.

Synonyms

Mercurochrome
vsmerbromine
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A red liquid used to clean small cuts that contains mercury

is the chemical name used generally rather than the original brand

Surface Forms

merbromine singular
merbromines plural

Morphology

merbromine = bromine (semi-transparent) = mer + bromine

The form signals chemical constituents (mer- + bromine), which helps identify it as a chemical name, but the antiseptic/trade-name usage and the bound form 'mer-' are specialized and not fully predictable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Merbromine comes from the two chemicals mercury and bromine, and it was the name for a red antiseptic often called Mercurochrome. So the name is a simple memory hook: it tells you the medicine had mercury and bromine and was used to clean small cuts.