doctor

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈdɒk.tə/, US /ˈdɑːk.tɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English doctour,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French doctour,^[4][2] from Medieval Latin doctor (“religious teacher, adviser, scholar”),^[4][2] in classical Latin “teacher”, an agent noun from docēre (“to show, teach”),^[4][5] originally “to make appear right”, a causative of decēre (“to be seemly, fitting”),^[4][2] the source of decent.^[2] The verb is from the noun.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Doctor of the Church, an early teacher or father of the Christian Church: about 1303, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne,^[2][6] and about 1300 in Etymonline.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The holder of the highest university degree, one empowered to teach a subject, is from the late 14th century^[4] (1377 in the OED, probably before 1378 in Piers Plowman in Barnhart),^[6][2] and so the word also meant a teacher or learned man.^[4] The sense of a medical practitioner grew gradually from this, from about 1400, replacing the native leech, though it was not common until the late 16th century;^[4] Chaucer's Doctor of Phisik shows the transitional stage.^[4] As a title before a name it is from about 1450.^[6] The verb first meant “to confer the degree of doctor on” (1599),^[6][2] then “to treat medically” (1712),^[4] “to patch up, repair” (1829),^[6] and “to alter so as to deceive, falsify” (1774).^[4][6] In Scotland a doctor was also an assistant master in a school, from 1630.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1303 – Doctor of the Church.^[2]
• 1377 – holder of the highest university degree.^[6]
• c. 1400 – a medical practitioner.^[4]
• c. 1450 – as a title.^[6]
• 1599 – verb, to confer a doctorate.^[6][2]
• 1676 – doctorate.^[2]
• 1712 – verb, to treat medically.^[4]
• 1774 – verb, to falsify.^[4][6]
• 1829 – verb, to patch up.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person trained and licensed to treat illness, such as a physician, dentist or veterinarian.
2. A person who holds the highest academic degree of a university, such as a PhD.
3. (Christianity) A theologian recognized as an authoritative teacher: a Doctor of the Church.

Verb

1. To give medical treatment to.
2. To repair, especially in a makeshift way.
3. To falsify or alter so as to deceive: doctored accounts.
4. To add something to food or drink to change its taste or quality.

Word family

• doctoral
• doctorly
• doctorless
• doctorship
• doctorally

Related words

• docent
• doctorate
• doctrine
• document
• docile
• decent
• physician

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press