/jen'teuh muy"sin/ , n. Pharm.
a highly toxic broad-spectrum antibiotic mixture of related aminoglycoside substances derived from the actinomycete bacterium Micromonospora purpurea, used in its sulfate form in the treatment of severe Gram-negative infections.
[ 1963; resp. of gentamycin, prob. equiv. to GENT(IAN VIOLET) + -a- (as in KANAMYCIN) + -MYCIN; so called from the color of the source bacterium ]