Etymologically
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psychiatry

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 06:28. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /saɪˈkaɪ.əˌtɹi/[1]

Etymology

The OED takes it as formed from English psycho- + -iatry, after German Psychiatrie,[2] which is first recorded in 1808, as Psychiaterie, in a collection edited by J. C. Reil and J. C. Hoffbauer.[2] It compares New Latin psychiatria (1813) and Italian psichiatria (1829), and notes an earlier psychiatrus (“doctor of the soul”) in 17th-century book titles, apparently not medical.[2] Barnhart and Etymonline instead take the English word, dated by them to 1846, from French psychiatrie,[3][4] recorded in French from 1842,[2] and Merriam-Webster from an assumed New Latin psychiatria.[5] The parts are Ancient Greek ψυχή (psukhḗ, “soul, mind”), the source of psyche,[4][6][7][8] and ἰατρεία (iatreía, “healing, medical treatment”),[7][9][6] from ἰατρός (iatrós, “physician, healer”);[3][8] Klein and Etymonline render the whole "a healing of the soul".[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The branch of medicine dealing with the causes, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental illness: 1828, in the North American Review, in a list of subjects taught at German universities.[2][5] Barnhart's first record is Worcester's Dictionary, 1846.[3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its first meaning, which Etymonline glosses as "the medical treatment of mental diseases".[4] The adjective psychiatric followed in 1847, probably from French psychiatrique, and psychiatrist, formed in English, in 1890.[3] Merriam-Webster also records the sense of a treatise or theory of psychiatry, and the application of its principles to other fields, as in social psychiatry.[5][6] Stedman's gives psychiatrics as a synonym.[9]

Timeline

  • 1808 – German Psychiaterie.[2]
  • 1828 – the branch of medicine dealing with mental illness.[2][5]
  • 1846 – in Worcester's Dictionary.[3]
  • 1847 – psychiatric.[3]
  • 1890 – psychiatrist.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental, emotional and behavioural disorders.[2][5][9][10]
  2. A treatise on psychiatry, or a theory of the causes and treatment of mental disorders.[5]

Word family

References

  1. ^ 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 g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c Stedman's Medical Dictionary, Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
  10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins