prescription

Pronunciation

• IPA: /prɪˈskrɪp.ʃən/, /prəˈskrɪp.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French prescription (13th century) and directly from Latin praescrīptiō, a writing before, an order or direction,^[2][3][4] a noun from praescrībere, to write before, ordain,^[2] from prae-, before, and scrībere, to write (see prescribe and scribe).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In law, the limitation of the time within which a claim can be made: 1292 in the OED;^[5] a title or right gained through long use or uninterrupted possession, the late 14th century in Etymonline, about 1380 in the OED.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Establishing something by rules is from the 1540s, 1542 in the OED.^[2][5] The medical sense, a doctor's written directions for a medicine, is recorded by the 1570s, 1579 in the OED,^[2][5] the late 16th century in the NODE.^[4] Etymonline notes that the word has been confused with proscription since about 1400.^[2] As a modifier, of drugs available only on a doctor's order, it is modern.^[6]

Timeline

• 1292 – a time limit on claims (law).^[5]
• c. 1380 – a right by long use.^[5]
• 1542 – prescribing beforehand.^[5]
• 1579 – a doctor's prescription.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A doctor's written instruction for the preparation and use of a medicine, or the medicine itself.
2. The act of laying down rules, or a rule laid down.
3. (law) A right or title gained by long use or possession.

Adjective

1. Of a drug, available only with a doctor's order.

Word family

• nonprescription
• prescription drug

Related words

• prescribe
• scribe
• proscription
• describe

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 f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins