nonself

Definitions

noun That which is not oneself.
noun (Immunology) Any material that enters the body and is not recognized by the immune system as being part of its body, thereby triggering an immune response; any material appearing to the immune system to be foreign to its body.

noun philosophy, psychology Any entity other than oneself.
noun immunology, uncountable All agents and substances that are not body's own.

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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It seems to me there is one: the word nonself-referring.

VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol IV No 1 1977
If they did not exactly scream "nonself," these antigens at least whispered "not quite self," and did so loudly enough to attract notice from the immune system.

Vaccinating Against Cancer 1997
The dividing line between self and nonself is taken to be the skin.

Robert Lanza, M.D.: Who Are We? Experiments Suggest You're Not Who You Think 2010
The dividing line between self and nonself is taken to be the skin.

Robert Lanza, M.D.: Who Are We? Experiments Suggest You're Not Who You Think 2010
Crozier floats in this warm, buoyant sea of nonself and listens to dreams that are not his own.

The Terror Simmons, Dan 2007
In effect, it fails to distinguish between self and nonself.

Meditation as Medicine M.D. Dharma Singh Khalsa 2001
In effect, it fails to distinguish between self and nonself.

Meditation as Medicine M.D. Dharma Singh Khalsa 2001
In light of this and subsequent discoveries, Alan Houghton, a cancer immunologist at Sloan-Kettering, has come to refer to cancer cells as "altered self," rather than "nonself."

Vaccinating Against Cancer 1997
But cancer cells teeter on the edge between self and nonself.

Vaccinating Against Cancer 1997
IKE all tumor immunologists, Boon was working at a boundary as much philosophical as scientific: Where does self end and nonself begin?

Vaccinating Against Cancer 1997