veterinarian

Etymology

It is from Latin veterīnārius (“of beasts of burden; a cattle doctor”) with the English suffix -an.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin word is from veterīnus (“of beasts of burden”), whose plural veterīnae meant beasts of burden,^[6][2][5] and this is from vetus (“old”), the source of veteran,^[5] from Proto-Indo-European *wet-.^[6] Etymonline suggests the notion of experienced animals, or of yearlings strong enough to draw loads, and reports a theory cited by de Vaan that horses were seen as the old stock because they lived longest of all cattle; the sense connection is uncertain.^[5] Compare French vétérinaire, a noun in this sense from 1571, and veterinario, from 1585.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person skilled in treating the diseases and injuries of animals: 1646, in Sir Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica,^[2][3] in a passage, quoted by Johnson, saying that the belief that a horse has no gall is accepted by common farriers and even by good veterinarians.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the word replaced the native dog-leech (1520s).^[5] In 1656 Blount's Glossographia also used it for a person who hires out horses, after Cooper's Latin dictionary of 1565, which glossed the Latin word that way; this sense did not last.^[2] The adjective, meaning veterinary, is recorded from 1716,^[2] and veterinary itself as an adjective by 1766.^[5] The Shorter Oxford calls the noun now chiefly North American,^[4] while British English prefers veterinary surgeon.^[8]

Timeline

• 1646 – a person skilled in treating diseases of animals, in Sir Thomas Browne.^[2][3]
• 1656 – a person who hires out horses, in Blount (now obsolete).^[2]
• 1716 – adjective, veterinary.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person qualified and licensed to treat the diseases and injuries of animals; a vet: We took the injured dog to the veterinarian.^[8][3][2]

Adjective

1. Veterinary.^[2][4]

Word family

• vet

Related words

• veterinary
• veteran
• inveterate

Usage notes

The noun is now chiefly North American;^[4] in Britain the usual term is veterinary surgeon.^[8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins