Etymologically
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pharmacy

Etymology and origin of the English word pharmacy

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1385
Borrowed from
Old French farmacie via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (φάρμακον)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈfɑɹməsi/; /ˈfɑːməsi/ (UK)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English fermacie, borrowed from Old French farmacie (“a purgative”),[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin pharmacia,[2][3] from Ancient Greek φαρμακεία (pharmakeía, “the use of drugs; a medicine or poison”),[2][3][4] from φαρμακεύς (pharmakeús, “preparer of drugs, poisoner”), from φάρμακον (phármakon, “drug, poison, charm, spell”),[2][3] of uncertain origin;[2] Beekes considers it clearly Pre-Greek.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A medicine that purges the body of excess humours: about 1385, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in Barnhart, the late 14th century in Etymonline;[2][3] the OED dates this sense to about 1386.[5]

Semantic evolution

The use or administration of drugs is from about 1400.[3][5][6] The art of preparing and dispensing medicines is from 1597 in the OED, the 1650s in Etymonline,[5][3] and a place where medicines are prepared or sold, a drugstore, is by 1833.[3][5] The ph- spelling was restored in French in the 16th century and in English in the 17th.[3] Pharmacist is from 1834, in Bulwer-Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1385 – fermacie, a medicine.[2]
  • c. 1400 – the use of drugs.[3][5]
  • 1597 – the art of preparing drugs.[5]
  • 1833 – a drugstore.[3][5]
  • 1834 – pharmacist.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A shop or dispensary where medicines are prepared and sold; a chemist or drugstore.
  2. The art or practice of preparing and dispensing drugs.

Word family

  • polypharmacy

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon 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. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Pharmacy.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/pharmacy. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·