medication

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mɛdɪˈkeɪʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English medicacioun, borrowed from Old French medication and directly borrowed from Latin medicatio (“healing, cure”),^[2][3][4] from the past participle stem of medicārī (“to heal, cure”), from medicus (“physician; healing”),^[2] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to take appropriate measures”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Medical treatment of a disease or wound: the early 15th century in Etymonline, late Middle English in SOED, 1603 in the OED.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Treatment of plants, and something used for medication, is from 1626.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as impregnating with medicinal ingredients.^[5][6] A medicinal substance or drug is by 1942 in Etymonline and 1934 in the OED.^[2][5]

Timeline

• early 15th century – medical treatment.^[2]
• 1626 – a remedy.^[5]
• 1755 – Johnson's definition.^[5]
• 1934 – a drug.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A substance used for medical treatment, especially a drug.
2. Treatment with drugs.

Word family

• hypermedication
• overmedication
• self-medication

Related words

• medic
• medicine
• medicament
• medicate
• medicinal
• medical
• remedy

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.