-mycin

Also found in: Medical.

-mycin

suff.

A substance derived from a bacterium in the order Actinomycetales: neomycin.

[myc(o)- (so called because the bacteria from which the substances were first derived were originally mistaken for fungi) + -in.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

-mycin

n combining form

(Elements & Compounds) indicating an antibiotic compound derived from a fungus: streptomycin.

[from Greek mukēs fungus + -in]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

-mycin

a combining form used in the names of antibiotics, usu. fungal derivatives: erythromycin.