placebo English · revision 2413

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pləˈsiː.bəʊ/ ''(UK)''; /pləˈsi.boʊ/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|placēbō|t=I shall please]], the first-person future of [[la|placeō|t=to please]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) It is the first word of the first antiphon of the Vespers for the Dead, ''Placebo Domino in regione vivorum'' “I will please the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 114:9 in the Vulgate).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The name of the Vespers in the Office for the Dead (before 1225).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle English ''to sing placebo'' meant to flatter or play the sycophant (1340),^(OED 1989) and Chaucer used Placebo as the name of a flatterer.^(OED 1989) The medical sense, a medicine given more to please the patient than to do any good, is recorded from 1785.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995) Later it named an inert substance used as a control when testing drugs,^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) and the phrase ''placebo effect'' is attested from 1900.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1225 – the Vespers for the Dead.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1340 – in phrases, to flatter or play the sycophant.^(OED 1989)

+ * about 1386 – a flatterer, a sycophant (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1785 – a medicine given to please rather than cure.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1900 – ''placebo effect''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A substance with no medical effect, given to satisfy or reassure a patient.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An inactive substance used as a control in testing the effectiveness of a drug.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+ # Something of no real value used to soothe or reassure.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''(Roman Catholicism)'' The Vespers of the Office for the Dead.^(AHD)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[placebo effect]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[please]]

+ * [[placid]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}