psychotherapist

Etymology

It is formed from English psychotherapy + -ist.^[1][2] Psychotherapy is formed from psycho- and therapy,^[3][1][4] probably after French psychothérapie, which the OED dates to 1888 and Etymonline to 1889.^[3][1] The base is recorded in English from 1892.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A specialist in or practitioner of psychotherapy: 1894 in Etymonline.^[1] The OED, whose entry was revised in 2007, has its first quotation from 1908, a headline in the Sioux Valley News of Correctionville, Iowa,^[3] and the Shorter Oxford likewise dates the word to the early 20th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word follows its base, which in early use also covered treating bodily disease by psychic or hypnotic influence.^[3][1][4] Merriam-Webster Unabridged now describes the practitioner broadly, as for instance a psychiatrist, a clinical psychologist, a psychiatric social worker or a member of the clergy.^[2]

Timeline

• 1894 – a practitioner of psychotherapy.^[1] The OED's first quotation is from 1908.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who practises psychotherapy, such as a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist, treating mental or emotional disorders by psychological means.^[2][3]

Related words

• psychotherapy
• therapist
• psychiatrist
• psychologist
• psychoanalyst

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press