chemist

English

Chemist in a white lab coat

Alternative forms

• chimist, chymist (obsolete)

Etymology

First attested 1562, borrowed from French chimiste, from Medieval Latin chimista, from earlier alchimista (literally “alchemist”), from Arabic الْكِيمِيَاء‎ (al-kīmiyāʾ), from article al- + Ancient Greek χυμεία (khumeía, “art of alloying metals”), from χύμα (khúma, “fluid”), from χυμός (khumós, “juice”), from χέω (khéō, “I pour”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: kem'ĭst, IPA^(key): /ˈkɛmɪst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

chemist (plural chemists)

1. A person who specializes in the science of chemistry, especially at a professional level.
   • 2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

     As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.

2. (chiefly Britain, Australia, New Zealand) A pharmacist.
3. (chiefly Britain, Australia, New Zealand) A pharmacy.
4. (obsolete) An alchemist.

Synonyms

• (pharmacist): apothecary, druggist, pharmacist
• (pharmacy): chemist's (British), chemist's shop (British), drugstore (US), pharmacy (especially US)

Related terms

• chemistry
• alchemist

Translations

person working in chemistry

• Albanian: kimist (sq) m
• Arabic: كِيمِيَائِيّ‎ m (kīmiyāʾiyy)
• Armenian: քիմիկոս (hy) (kʿimikos)
• Asturian: químicu m
• Azerbaijani: kimyaçı
• Basque: kimikari
• Belarusian: хі́мік m (xímik)
• Bulgarian: хими́к m (himík), хими́чка f (himíčka)
• Catalan: químic (ca) m, química (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 化學家 (zh), 化学家 (zh) (huàxuéjiā)

• Czech: chemik (cs) m
• Danish: kemiker (da) c
• Dutch: scheikundige (nl) m or f, chemicus (nl) m
• Estonian: keemik
• Faroese: evnafrøðingur m
• Finnish: kemisti (fi)
• French: chimiste (fr) m or f
• Galician: químico (gl) m, química (gl) f
• Georgian: ქიმიკოსი (kimiḳosi)
• German: Chemiker (de) m, Chemikerin (de) f
• Greek: χημικός (el) m or f (chimikós)
• Hindi: कीमियागर (hi) m (kīmiyāgar)
• Hungarian: vegyész (hu), kémikus (hu)
• Icelandic: efnafræðingur m
• Indonesian: kimiawan
• Irish: ceimiceoir m
• Italian: chimico (it) m, chimica (it) f
• Japanese: 化学者 (ja) (かがくしゃ, kagakusha)
• Kazakh: химик (xïmïk), химияшы (xïmïyaşı)
• Khmer: គីមីវិទូ (kiimii vituu)
• Korean: 화학자 (ko) (hwahakja)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: kîmyanas (ku)

• Kyrgyz: химик (ky) (himik)
• Lao: ນັກເຄມີ (nak khē mī)
• Latvian: ķīmiķis m, ķīmiķe f
• Lithuanian: chemikas m
• Macedonian: хемичар m (hemičar)
• Maltese: kimiku
• Mongolian: химич (mn) (khimich)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kjemiker (no) m

  Nynorsk: kjemikar m

• Persian: شیمی‌دان‎ (šimi-dân)
• Polish: chemik (pl) m
• Portuguese: químico (pt) m, química (pt) f
• Romanian: chimist (ro) m, chimistă (ro) f
• Russian: хи́мик (ru) m (xímik) (for both male and female)
• Scottish Gaelic: dùileòlaiche m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: kemičar (sh) m, kemičarka (sh) f

• Slovak: chemik m, chemička f
• Slovene: kemik (sl) m, kémičarka f
• Spanish: químico (es) m, química (es) f
• Swahili: mwanakemia
• Swedish: kemist (sv) c
• Tajik: химик (tg) (ximik), химикдон (ximikdon)
• Telugu: రసాయనశాస్త్రజ్ఞుడు (rasāyanaśāstrajñuḍu)
• Thai: นักเคมี (nák-kee-mii)
• Turkish: kimyacı (tr)
• Turkmen: himik
• Ukrainian: хі́мік m (xímik)
• Uzbek: kimyogar (uz)
• Vietnamese: nhà hóa học (vi)
• Welsh: cemegwr (cy) m, cemegwraig (cy) f, cemegydd (cy) m or f
• Yiddish: כעמיקער‎ m (khemiker), כעמיקערין‎ f (khemikerin)

pharmacist — see pharmacist

pharmacy — see pharmacy

Anagrams

• chimest, mitches