physician English · revision 7054

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1200|origins=grc φύσις}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /fɪˈzɪʃn̩/ ''(UK)''; /fəˈzɪʃən/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English fisicien, [[bor|fro|fisicien|t=physician, doctor, sage]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) from fisique, the art of healing (see [[physic]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from Latin [[m|la|physica|t=natural science]], ultimately from Greek [[m|grc|φύσις|tr=phúsis|t=nature]].^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998)^(Cresswell 2021) The classical ph- spelling was restored from the late 14th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A healer, a doctor of medicine: probably before 1200, in the ''Ancrene Riwle'';^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) before 1225 in the OED.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Word Origins notes that the Old English word for a doctor was [[leech]], a healer.^(Cresswell 2021) A physician was distinguished from a surgeon,^(Etymonline) and one legally qualified to practise medicine is from about 1400.^(OED 1989) A healer of moral or political ills is also from about 1400.^(OED 1989) A student of natural science, a sense now obsolete, is from the early 15th century.^(OED 1989) Modern French physicien means a physicist.^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – a healer.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1400 – a qualified medical practitioner; a moral healer.^(OED 1989)

+ * late 14th century – the ph- spelling.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A person qualified to practise [[medicine]]; a [[doctor]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A doctor who practises medicine as distinct from surgery.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A person or thing that heals.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[physicianly]]

+ * [[physicianship]]

+ * [[family physician]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[physic]]

+ * [[physicist]]

+ * [[physical]]

+ * [[physics]]

+ * [[physique]]

+ * [[leech]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}