folk medicine

See also: folk-medicine

English

WOTD – 9 August 2021

Etymology

From folk (“believed or transmitted by the common people; not academically correct or rigorous”) +‎ medicine.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌfəʊk ˈmɛd(ɪ)s(ɪ)n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌfoʊk ˈmɛdəs(ə)n/
• Hyphenation: folk me‧di‧cine

Noun

folk medicine (countable and uncountable, plural folk medicines)

1. (uncountable) Traditional medical practices developed and used by non-physicians, typically involving customary homespun techniques and medicinal remedies derived from native plants.

   Synonym: indigenous medicine

   Holonyms: complementary medicine, integrative medicine, traditional medicine

   • 1935 September 2, “Medicine: Chemotherapy”, in Time, retrieved 8 June 2014:

     He learned medicine and surgery "from executioners, bathkeepers, gypsies, midwives, and fortune tellers and incidentally acquired an unusual knowledge of folk-medicine and a permanent taste for low company."

   • 2008 March 11, Eric Nagourney, “Nostrums: Aromatherapy Rarely Stands Up to Testing”, in New York Times, retrieved 8 June 2014:

     Aromatherapy is a big business, and its roots run deep in folk medicine.

2. (countable) A particular medicinal remedy used in such traditional medical practices.
   • 1996 August 2, Liz Hunt, “Flower-power remedy proves equal of anti-depressant drugs”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 8 June 2014:

     A folk medicine traditionally used to treat depression is as effective as standard anti-depressant drugs and has fewer side-effects, according to a new study.

Alternative forms

• folk-medicine

Related terms

• herbal medicine
• medicine man
• medicine woman

 

Translations

traditional medical practices developed and used by non-physicians

• Amharic: ባሕላዊ መድኃኒት (baḥlawi mädḫanit)
• Arabic: طب تقليدي
• Assamese: লোকচিকিৎসা (lüksikitxa)
• Asturian: medicina tradicional f
• Azerbaijani: xalq təbabəti
• Basque: medikuntza tradizional
• Belarusian: народная медыцына f (naródnaja mjedycyna)
• Bengali: ঐতিহ্যবাহী চিকিৎসাবিজ্ঞান (ōitijjhobahi cikitśabiggên)
• Bulgarian: традиционна медицина f (tradicionna medicina)
• Catalan: medicina tradicional f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 传统医学 (chuántǒng yīxué)

• Danish: folkemedicin c
• Dutch: volksgeneeskunde (nl) f
• Esperanto: popolmedicino
• Estonian: rahvameditsiin
• Finnish: kansanparannus (fi), kansanlääkintä
• French: médecine traditionnelle f
• Galician: medicina tradicional f
• German: Volksmedizin f
• Hausa: maganin gargajiya
• Hebrew: רפואה מסורתית
• Hindi: पारम्परिक चिकित्सा (pāramparik cikitsā)
• Hungarian: népi gyógyászat
• Indonesian: obat tradisional (id)
• Ingush: халкъа лорал (xalqʼa loral)
• Italian: medicina popolare f
• Japanese: 伝統医学
• Kannada: ಜನಪದ ವೈದ್ಯ (janapada vaidya)
• Korean: 전통의학 (jeontong'uihak)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: پزیشکی کۆن (pzîşkî kon)

• Kyrgyz: элдик медицина (eldik meditsina)
• Lithuanian: liaudies medicina f
• Malagasy: fitsaboana nentim-paharazana
• Malay: perubatan tradisional
• Malayalam: നാട്ടുവൈദ്യം (ml) (nāṭṭuvaidyaṁ)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: folkemedisin m

  Nynorsk: folkemedisin m

• Persian: طب سنتی (fa)
• Polish: medycyna tradycyjna f
• Portuguese: medicina tradicional m
• Punjabi: ਰਵਾਇਤੀ ਦਵਾਈਆਂ (ravāitī davāīā̃)
• Romanian: medicină populară f
• Russian: наро́дная медици́на (ru) f (naródnaja medicína)
• Serbo-Croatian: tradicijska medicina f
• Sinhalese: සාම්ප්‍රදායික වෛද්‍යක්‍රම (sāmpradāyika waidyakrama)
• Slovak: ľudové liečiteľstvo n
• Slovene: tradicionalna medicina f
• Spanish: medicina tradicional f
• Turkish: geleneksel tıp (tr)
• Ukrainian: народна медицина f (narodna medycyna)
• Uzbek: xalq tabobati
• Vietnamese: y học cổ truyền
• Western Panjabi: روایتی دوائیاں

particular medicinal remedy used in such traditional medical practices

• Finnish: perinnelääke
• Portuguese: mezinha (pt) f, mitombo m (Mozambique)

See also

• nostrum

Further reading

• traditional medicine on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “folk-medicine, n.” under “folk, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2021.
• “folk medicine, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “folk medicine”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.