dosage

Etymology

It is formed from English dose + -age,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} perhaps on the model of French dosage,^[6][2][3] recorded in French from 1812.^[6] The base comes from Old French dose or directly Medieval Latin dosis,^[6][7] from Ancient Greek δόσις (dósis, “a giving; a portion of medicine”), from δίδωμι (dídōmi, “to give”),^[6][7] from Proto-Indo-European *do- (“to give”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The operation of dosing, the addition of a dose to something such as wine: 1849, in C. A. Harris's Dictionary of Dental Science.^[2] Etymonline dates it to 1867 in chemistry,^[6] Merriam-Webster to about 1867,^[8] and Dictionary.com to 1840–50.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In medicine the word was used from 1874 for the giving of medicine in doses, especially with regard to their size,^[6][2] and in 1893 in the same way for doses of X-rays and other radiation.^[2] The sense of the amount itself, the size or frequency of a dose, is now the usual one.^[3][8][9] The older sense of adding a measured amount of an ingredient survives in winemaking.^[9][8][2]

Timeline

• 1849 – the addition of a dose, as to wine.^[2]
• 1867 – in chemistry.^[6][8]
• 1874 – the administration of medicine in doses.^[6]
• 1876 – the same, with regard to the size of the dose.^[2]
• 1893 – in radiotherapy.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The amount of a medicine or other treatment prescribed, and how often it is to be taken: Do not exceed the stated dosage.^{[8][10][9][3]}
2. The giving of a drug in prescribed amounts at set intervals.^[10][9][2]
3. The working out of how much of a treatment should be given.^[9]
4. A dose of radiation, also one received outside medical treatment.^[8][2]
5. The addition of a measured amount of an ingredient to a substance, especially to wine.^[9][8][2]

Related words

• dose
• overdose
• antidote

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins