pharmacist

Etymology

It is formed from English pharmacy + -ist.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Pharmacy goes back to Middle English fermacie, from Old French farmacie (“a purgative”) and Medieval Latin pharmacia,^[6][5][2] from Ancient Greek φαρμακεία (pharmakeía, “use of drugs”), from φάρμακον (phármakon, “drug, poison, charm, spell”).^[6][7][1] Barnhart calls the Greek noun of uncertain origin,^[6] Wiktionary thinks it probably Pre-Greek,^[1] and Merriam-Webster compares Lithuanian burti (“to practise divination or magic”).^[3] Etymonline notes that the Latin word for a druggist was Latin pharmacopola.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who practises pharmacy, who is qualified to prepare and dispense medicinal drugs: 1721, in E. Strother's Dr Radcliffe's Practical Dispensatory,^[2] the same year as Merriam-Webster's first date.^[3] Etymonline dates the word to 1811,^[5] Barnhart to 1834, in Bulwer-Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii,^[6] and Dictionary.com to 1825–35.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word took the place of the earlier pharmacian (1720), now obsolete,^[5][2] and competed with pharmaceutist, recorded in this sense from 1785 and still listed as a less common variant.^[5][9][8] It follows the senses of pharmacy, which in Middle English meant a medicine, especially a purgative, and the use of drugs; the preparation and dispensing of medicines is recorded from 1651, and a shop where medicines are sold from 1833.^[2][6] Johnson (1755) still defined pharmacy as the art of preparing medicines and "the trade of an apothecary".^[10] The OED notes the specific use of pharmacist for one who works in a chemist's shop,^[2] and Merriam-Webster compares apothecary and druggist.^[3] In West Indian slang, a pharmacist is a major dealer in illegal drugs (1995).^[11]

Timeline

• 1721 – a person engaged in pharmacy, who prepares and dispenses medicinal drugs.^[2][3] Etymonline dates it to 1811 and Barnhart to 1834.^[5][6]
• 1785 – pharmaceutist in the same sense.^[5]
• 1995 – West Indian slang: a major drug dealer.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who is professionally qualified to prepare and dispense medicines and drugs: Ask the pharmacist whether these tablets can be taken together.^[9][2][3][4]
2. (West Indian slang) A dealer in illegal drugs, especially a major one.^[11]

Related words

• pharmacy
• pharmaceutical
• pharmacopoeia

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com