Word.ws English Dictionary

herxing

herxing is the present participle and gerund of herx.

Meaning of herx

Verb

herx (third-person singular simple present herxes, present participle herxing, simple past and past participle herxed)

  1. (informal) To experience a Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction, a negative reaction to antibiotic treatment.
    • These usually last for several hours, and require little more than aspirin and bed rest. Yet many Lyme newsgroup participants write about a "herx" beginning days or weeks after the start of antibiotic therapy, and "herxing" for weeks at a time -- often in a cyclic fashion.2017 October 1, Edward McSweegan, “Lyme Disease: Questionable Diagnosis and Treatment”, in ActionLyme.org, archived from the original on 03 Apr 2023

See all 2 meanings of herx

Noun

herxing (uncountable)

  1. (informal) Jarisch–Herxheimer reaction, a negative reaction to antibiotic treatment.
    • Brenner’s own experience with “herxing” (a common phrase among Lyme patients) started 2 or 3 hours after his first antibiotic treatment.1997 February, Edward McSweegan, “TNF antibodies get new lease”, in Nature Medicine, volume 3, number 2, page 130
    • Moreover, the Jarish–Herxheimer reaction (sometimes referred to as “herxing”) is a rare syndrome seen within the first 48 hr of starting antibiotic treatment for some spirochetal diseases; the belief that “herxing” causes ongoing symptom flares in patients with Lyme disease is a fallacy for which...2013 July, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Article Corrections”, in Gifted Child Today, volume 36, number 3, page 215

Origin of herxing

Shortened from Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction, which in turn derives from the names of Adolf Jarisch and Karl Herxheimer, physicians who separately described the reaction in syphilis patients.

Questions about herxing

What does herxing mean?
Herxing means jarisch–Herxheimer reaction, a negative reaction to antibiotic treatment.
What is herxing the present participle and gerund of?
Herxing is the present participle and gerund of herx.
What part of speech is herxing?
Herxing is a noun.

Words near herxing in the dictionary

  1. Herwig
  2. Herwigs
  3. herx
  4. herxed
  5. herxes
  6. herxing
  7. herycano
  8. herye
  9. herying
  10. Herzberg
  11. Herzbergs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: herxing (page history and authors); herx (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “herxing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/herxing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.