therapy (English)

Where does "therapy" come from?

The English noun 'therapy' comes from New Latin 'therapīa'[1], which itself derives from Ancient Greek 'θεραπεία' meaning 'service, medical treatment'[1]. This Greek term originates from 'θεραπεύω' meaning 'to heal'[2] or 'I serve, treat medically'[1], built from the noun 'θεράπων' meaning 'attendant, aide'[4] along with the verbal suffix '-εύω'[4]. The final part of 'θεραπεία' uses the suffix '-ία' used for forming abstract nouns[1].

Open questions

The origin of the Ancient Greek word 'θεράπων' is traced by Beekes to a Pre-Greek root. [5]

Full etymology tree

therapy (English), 'Attempted remediation of a health problem following a diagnosis, usually synonymous with treatment.'
- borrowed therapia (Latin), 'therapy'
  - derived θεραπεία (therapeía) (Ancient Greek), 'a waiting on service'
    - suffix θεραπεύω (therapeúō) (Ancient Greek), 'to wait on, attend, serve'
      - suffix θεράπων (therápōn) (Ancient Greek), 'companion of lower rank, comrade, attendant, aide'
        derived (Pre-Greek)
      - affix -εύω (-eúō) (Ancient Greek), 'Added to the stems of agent or other nouns in -εύς (-eús) to form a denominative verb of condition or activity: meaning "be x" or "do what x typically does"'
    - affix -ία (-ía) (Ancient Greek), 'Added to stems of adjectives, rarely to the stems of verbs, and even more rarely to the stems of nouns, to form feminine abstract nouns'

Ancestors

Descendants and derived words

theragnosis (English)
therapee (English)
therapese (English)
therapism (English)
therapize (English)
therapy animal (English)
therapygenetic (English)
therapygenetics (English)
therapylike (English)
therapy-speak (English)
teiripe (Irish)
teiripe (Scottish Gaelic)

Related words

diagnosis (English)

Sources

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris