panacea

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌpæn.əˈsiː.ə/; /ˌpænəˈsiːə/, /ˌpænəˈsɪə/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin panacea (“an all-healing herb”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Ancient Greek πανάκεια (panákeia, “cure-all”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from panakḗs “all-healing”,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from pan- “all” and ákos “cure”.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Panacea was also the name of a Greek goddess of healing.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A remedy reputed to heal all diseases; a universal remedy.^[4][7][5][3]

Semantic evolution

In Latin it named a healing herb, variously identified,^[4][7] and an earlier English use, of about 1425, also refers to the herb;^[3] the form panace is found in the 1510s.^[4] From a cure for every disease it came to mean a solution to every problem.^[2][5][6][1]

Timeline

• about 1425 – the medicinal herb.^[3]
• 1510s – the form panace.^[4]
• 1548 – a universal remedy.^[7][5][3]
• 1590 – a healing herb, allheal.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A remedy for all diseases; a cure-all.
2. A solution to all problems or difficulties.
3. A plant once believed to cure all ills; allheal.

Word family

• panacean

Related words

• elixir
• nostrum

References

1. [1] [2] [3] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. [1] [2] [3] [4] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press