Doctor

See also: doctor

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Noun

Doctor (plural Doctors)

1. The title of an academic or medical doctor; used before or instead of the doctor's name.

   The students asked to see Doctor Jones.

   Doctor Smith carried out the medical procedure.

   Well, Doctor, what do you think? Will he live?

   • 1831 October 15, Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, “Introduction”, in Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (Standard Novels; IX), 3rd edition, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], published 31 October 1831, →OCLC, pages ix–x:

     They talked of the experiments of Dr. Darwin, (I speak not of what the Doctor really did, or said that he did, but, as more to my purpose, of what was then spoken of as having been done by him,) who preserved a piece of vermicelli in a glass case, till by some extraordinary means it began to move with voluntary motion.

Usage notes

In the U.S. and Canada, lawyers are typically not address as "Doctor" even though they technically hold a doctorate. Conversely, medical doctors, dentists and veterinarians elsewhere in the Anglosphere are usually addressed as "Doctor" even though they do not have doctorates.

Synonyms

• (abbreviated forms) Dr / Dr.

Derived terms

• Doctor Atkins
• Doctor Feelgood
• Doctor Frankenstein

Translations

title of a doctor, used before the doctor's name

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 醫生 / 医生 (ji¹ sang¹) (physician), 博士 (yue) (bok³ si⁶) (academic)

  Hakka: 先生 (sîn-sâng)

  Hokkien: 先生 (zh-min-nan) (sian-siⁿ, sin-seⁿ, sian-seⁿ, sian-seng)

  Mandarin: 醫生 / 医生 (zh) (yīshēng) (physician), 博士 (zh) (bóshì) (academic)

• Esperanto: Doktoro
• Finnish: tohtori (fi), tri (fi)
• French: (used for both a man and a woman) le docteur (fr), (Quebec) la docteure (fr)
• German: Doktor (de) m, (female) Doktorin (de) f, (abbreviation) Dr. (de) m
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} il Dottor, ^{(please verify)} il Dottore
• Japanese: 博士 (ja) (はかせ, hakase, はくし, hakushi)
• Korean: 박사(博士) (ko) (baksa)
• Maltese: (used for both a man and a woman) ^{(please verify)} id-Dott.
• Marathi: डॉक्टर (ḍŏkṭar)
• Portuguese: doutor (pt) m
• Romanian: Doctor m
• Russian: до́ктор (ru) m (dóktor) (used for both a man and a woman), д-р m (d-r) (abbreviation)
• Vietnamese: tiến sĩ (vi) (進士)

See also

• (titles) (of a man): Mr (Mister, mister), Sir (sir); (of a woman): Ms (Miz, mizz), Mrs (Mistress, mistress), Miss (miss), Dame (dame), Madam (madam, ma'am); (of a non-binary person): Mx (Mixter); (see also): Dr (Doctor, doctor) ^{(Category: en:Titles)}

German

Noun

Doctor m (mixed or strong, genitive Doctors, plural Doctoren or (colloquial) Doctor or (archaic) Doctores, feminine Doctorin)

1. Former spelling of Doktor which is no longer standard.