remedial

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin remediālis (“healing, curative”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} recorded from the 5th century,^[2] from remedium (“cure, remedy”), the source of remedy, with the suffix -ālis.^[2][4] Remedium is formed from re-, perhaps an intensive prefix here or meaning "again", and medeor (“to heal”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to take appropriate measures”).^[3] English already had remediable.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Providing a remedy, tending to relieve or redress something: 1612, in a marginal note in Michael Drayton's Poly-Olbion.^[2] Merriam-Webster's first date is 1651, and Etymonline dates the word to the 1650s.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

For three centuries the word meant only "serving as a remedy", of medicines, measures or laws.^[2][4] In the early 20th century it was applied to education, to special teaching for schoolchildren who have not reached the expected level in basic skills (1909), and then to the children themselves (1928);^[2][7] Etymonline finds the educational sense by 1879.^[3] At about the same time it was used of exercises that help people with injuries or disabilities to move better (1920).^[2][7][3]

Timeline

• 1612 – providing a remedy.^[2] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1651.^[4]
• 1909 – of teaching for pupils behind in basic skills.^[2]
• 1920 – of exercises improving movement after injury.^[2]
• 1928 – of a child, receiving remedial teaching.^[2][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Intended to remedy or correct something, or to cure a disease: The council promised remedial work on the bridge.^[8][4][2]
2. Relating to special teaching for pupils who have difficulty learning or who lag behind in basic skills: remedial reading.^[8][4][2]
3. Of exercises or treatment, designed to overcome injuries, weakness or faulty posture.^[2][7]

Word family

• remedially
• nonremedial

Related words

• remedy
• remediable
• remediation
• medical
• medicine

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins