By Betty Kirkpatrick
Toxic, which dates from the middle of the 17th century, started life as a straightforward, if dangerous, one-meaning word and it remained that way for a long time. That meaning was poisonous, and the word toxic had a very curious etymology.
The original source of the word was Greek, toxon meaning a bow, as in bow and arrow, which gave rise to English toxophily meaning archery. From toxon came the adjective toxicos, meaning referring to bows and arrows, and toxicon pharmakon meaning poison for smearing on the tips of arrows. This was shortened to toxicon and passed into Latin as toxicum meaning poison. From there it came into English.
Incidentally, the word intoxicated shares this derivation. Fair enough. If you are intoxicated you could be suffering from alcohol poisoning.
In recent times toxic has sometimes lost its connection with poison, but retained its connection with danger. It can be used to mean causing serious harm or death. Thus, hostages could be said to be in a toxic situation.
In modern slang the serious nature of toxic becomes a bit diluted and the connection with danger has been dropped. Toxic has come to mean very difficult or undesirable. For example, you can be in a toxic relationship, you can have had a toxic weather holiday or your financial situation can be a bit toxic.
Putting finance and modern meanings of toxic together is particularly apt, because toxic became a high-profile word during the recent and ongoing recession. There has been much reference to toxic assets, assets that have declined in value to such an extent that no one wants to buy them, certainly not at a price that is of any use to the holder of the assets.
There was at one point much talk of creating a toxic bank, a state-backed bank which would take over other banks' unsuccessful loans and investments. Such a concept was previously known as a bad bank, but that was a bit too basic and easy to understand. Toxic was a bit more difficult for ordinary members of the public to get their heads round and so it helped to preserve the mystique of the financial world.
Toxic also developed a musical association when Britney Spears released an album containing a song with Toxic as its title. The song had a reference to poison, but mostly it was about a person who was so attractive to someone that it amounted to an addiction:
You're toxic I'm slipping under / With a taste of a poison paradise / I’m addicted to you.
This is not the only meaning of toxic as applied to a person. The expression toxic friend has become quite widespread. This refers to a supposed friend who, when you are in their company, lowers your self-esteem and eats away at any sense of wellbeing you have. A touch of addiction must remain or why would you bother with them or call them a friend?
The original meaning of toxic in the sense of poisonous has survived these modern developments. We have toxic chemicals, toxic waste, toxic pesticides – all of which have an even worse effect on us than toxic friends.
Betty Kirkpatrick is the former editor of several classic reference books, including Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary and Roget’s Thesaurus. She is also the author of several smaller language reference books, including The Usual Suspects and Other Clichés published by Bloomsbury, and a series of Scots titles, including Scottish Words and Phrases, Scottish Quotations, and Great Scots, published by Crombie Jardine.
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