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therapy

Etymology and origin of the English word therapy

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1846
Borrowed from
Latin therapia
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (θεραπεία)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈθer.ə.pi/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin therapia,[2][3][4] from Ancient Greek θεραπεία (therapeía, “service, attendance; curing, healing”),[2][3][4] from therapeúein “to attend, serve; to treat medically”,[2][3] related to therápōn “attendant”, a word of uncertain origin.[3] Middle English had terapeucia “therapeutics” in the early 15th century.[2] It is related to therapeutic.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The medical treatment of disease: 1846 in the OED, Barnhart, Etymonline and MWU.[5][3][2][4] The adjective therapeutic is older (1646).[3]

Semantic evolution

The Greek word first meant service or attendance, then care of the sick.[2][3] In English it was medical from the start, and came to include psychiatric treatment,[5] so that therapy alone is now often short for psychotherapy.[6][7] Many compounds name a kind of treatment, such as physical therapy, speech therapy and group therapy.[5][6] Therapist is from 1886.[3]

Timeline

  • 1846 – medical treatment of disease.[5][3]
  • 1886 – therapist.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Treatment of an illness, injury or disability, especially without drugs or surgery.
  2. Psychotherapy.
  3. Something that has a healing effect.
  • therapeutic
  • therapist
  • psychotherapy

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Therapy.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/therapy. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·