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medical

Etymology and origin of the English word medical

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1646 (Browne)
Borrowed from
French médical
Ultimate origin
Latin (medicus)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈmed.ɪ.kəl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French médical,[2][3][4] or directly from Late Latin medicālis (“of a physician”),[3][4][5] from medicus (“physician; healing”),[3][2] from medērī (“to heal”), originally “to know the best course for”.[3][2] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to take appropriate measures”), the source also of Avestan vī-mad- “physician”,[3][4][5] and cites de Vaan for a shift in meaning from “measure” to “distribute a cure, heal”.[3] Merriam-Webster relates medērī to Latin meditārī (“to meditate”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to the art of healing or its practitioners: 1646, in Sir Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica,[2][7][4] where it also meant “curative, medicinal”.[7]

Semantic evolution

The earlier English adjective in this sense was medicinal.[3] A disease that needs medical rather than surgical treatment is medical from 1885–8.[7] As a noun, a medical was a colloquial word for a student or practitioner of medicine from 1823,[3][7] and a medical examination from 1917.[3][7]

Timeline

  • 1646 – adjective (Browne).[2][7]
  • 1823 – noun, a medical student.[3][7]
  • 1885–8 – of diseases, treated by medicine.[7]
  • 1917 – noun, a medical examination.[3][7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Relating to the study or practice of medicine.
  2. Requiring treatment by medicine rather than surgery.

Noun

  1. A thorough physical examination.

Word family

  • medically
  • aeromedical
  • antimedical
  • biomedical
  • Medicaid
  • medicalize
  • Medicare

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Medical.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/medical. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·