ANTIGEN

noun Etymology: German, from French antigène, from anticorps antibody + -gène -gen Date: 1908 any substance (as an immunogen or a hapten) foreign to the body that evokes an immune response either alone or after forming a complex with a larger molecule (as a protein) and that is capable of binding with a product (as an antibody or T cell) of the immune response, ~ic adjective ~ically adverb ~icity noun