chemist

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French chimiste, also chymiste (1548), and directly borrowed from New Latin chimista, also chymista,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} which was shortened from Medieval Latin alchimista (“alchemist”), apparently because its first syllable was taken for the Arabic definite article.^[2][7][6] The Medieval Latin word is from alchimia, the source of alchemy.^[6][3] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster see the English form as an alteration of alchemist, influenced by the French word and by Ancient Greek χυμεία (khumeíā, “alchemy”);^[8][7][9] Klein derives the French word from chimie (“chemistry”).^[10] The earlier English spellings were chymist and chimist;^[8][2][5] the modern spelling dates from about 1790, according to Etymonline.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An alchemist, or someone who practised chemistry in its early form: 1559, in Morwyng's translation of Gesner's Treasure of Euonymus.^[2][7] Barnhart dates chymist and chimist, alchemist, to 1562,^[8] and the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English date the word to late Middle English.^[5][11]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant an alchemist, and Weekley notes that the two words were at first synonyms.^[12][2][5] From 1585 it also named a follower of Paracelsus who treated illness with chemical remedies, a use now historical.^[2][5] The modern sense, a scientist who makes chemical investigations, was introduced by Francis Bacon in 1626, according to Barnhart;^[8][3] the sense "alchemist" died out in the 18th century.^[5] In Britain a chemist was also, from 1744, a person who dispenses and sells medicines,^[2][3] and since 1856 the shop itself, first in the possessive chemist's.^[2] In 20th-century American slang a chemist could be the man who ran an illicit still.^[13]

Timeline

• 1559 – an alchemist; an early chemist.^[2][7]
• 1562 – chymist, chimist, alchemist.^[8]
• 1585 – a Paracelsian physician.^[2]
• 1626 – a chemical scientist, in Francis Bacon.^[8]
• 1744 – British, a dispenser and seller of medicines.^[2]
• c. 1790 – the spelling chemist becomes usual.^[3]
• 1856 – British, a chemist's shop.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person trained in or working in chemistry.^[7][14][2]
2. (British) A pharmacist.^[14][7][2]
3. (British) A shop that sells medicines, cosmetics and toiletries: I'll pick up some plasters at the chemist.^[14][2]
4. (obsolete) An alchemist.^[7][14][5]

Word family

• nonchemist

Related words

• chemistry
• alchemist
• alchemy
• chemical
• chemic

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins