medicine (English)
Where does "medicine" come from?
The English word 'medicine' traces its roots back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*med-', meaning to measure or give advice[1]. This evolved in Latin into the verb 'medeor', meaning to heal or cure, which formed the basis of 'medicus', meaning a physician[7]. This led to the Latin adjective 'medicīnus' and its feminine substantive 'medicīna', encompassing meanings like the healing art, a remedy, or a physician's shop[1][3]. The term passed into Old French as 'medecine' and then Middle French 'medicine' before entering Middle English as 'medicin'[1][2][4]. An extended sense relating to indigenous practices emerged as a calque of the Ojibwe word 'mashkiki'[1].
Open questions
- The ultimate origin rests on the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root '*med-'. [1]
Full etymology tree
- medicine (English), 'A substance which specifically promotes healing when ingested or consumed in some way; a pharmaceutical drug.'
- inherited medicin (Middle English)
- borrowed medicine (Middle French), 'medicine (act of practising medical treatment)'
- inherited medecine (Old French), 'medicine; remedy; medical treatment of some form'
- borrowed medicina (Latin), 'medicine, remedy, cure'
- derived medicinus (Latin), 'Of or pertaining to doctors and healing; medical, medicinal'
- derived medicus (Latin), 'doctor, physician, surgeon'
- derived medeor (Latin), 'to heal, cure, remedy, be good for or against a disease'
- suffix -icus (Latin), 'of or pertaining to; belonging to; derived from; connected with: -ic, -ish'
- suffix -inus (Latin), 'Of or pertaining to; -ine; Can indicate a relationship of position, possession, or origin.'
- derived medicus (Latin), 'doctor, physician, surgeon'
- derived medicinus (Latin), 'Of or pertaining to doctors and healing; medical, medicinal'
- borrowed medicina (Latin), 'medicine, remedy, cure'
- inherited medecine (Old French), 'medicine; remedy; medical treatment of some form'
- borrowed medicine (Middle French), 'medicine (act of practising medical treatment)'
- inherited medicin (Middle English)
Ancestors
- *med- (Proto-Indo-European)
- medicine (Middle French)
- medecine (Old French)
- medicina (Latin)
- mashkiki (Ojibwe)
Descendants and derived words
- aeromedicine (English)
- allopathic medicine (English)
- antimedicine (English)
- a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down (English)
- a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down (English)
- auriculomedicine (English)
- biomedicine (English)
- bush medicine (English)
- Chinese medicine (English)
- Chinese patent medicine (English)
- Chinese traditional medicine (English)
- chronomedicine (English)
Sources
- medicine (English) - Wiktionary
- medicine (Middle French) - Wiktionary
- medicina (Latin) - Wiktionary
- medecine (Old French) - Wiktionary
- mashkiki (Ojibwe) - Wiktionary
- medicinus (Latin) - Wiktionary
- medicus (Latin) - Wiktionary
Updated October 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris