medicine

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• medicin (obsolete)

Etymology

Middle English medicin, from Old French, from Latin medicīna (“the healing art, medicine, a physician's shop, a remedy, medicine”), feminine of medicinus (“of or belonging to physic or surgery, or to a physician or surgeon”), from medicus (“a physician, surgeon”), from medeor (“I heal”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: ˈmed-sǐn, ˈmed-sn, IPA^(key): /ˈmɛd.sɪn/, /ˈmɛd.sn̩/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (US) enPR: ˈmed-ĭ-sĭn, IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.dɪ.sɪn/
• (Weak-vowel merger) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛ.də.sən]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

medicine (plural medicines)

1. A substance which specifically promotes healing when ingested or consumed in some way.
2. A treatment or cure.
3. The study of the cause, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of disease or illness.
4. The profession of physicians, surgeons and related specialisms; those who practice medicine.
5. Ritual Native American magic used (notably by a medicine man) to promote a desired outcome in healing, hunting, warfare etc.
6. (obsolete) black magic, superstition.
7. (obsolete) A philtre or love potion.
   • 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, II. ii. 18:

     If the rascal have not given me medicines to make me love him, I'll be hanged. It could not be else. I have drunk medicines.

8. (obsolete) A physician.
   • 1598, William Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, II. i. 72:

     I have seen a medicine

     That's able to breathe life into a stone

Synonyms

• (treatment): regimen, course, program, prescription
• (substance): drug, prescription, pharmaceutical, elixir
• See also Wikisaurus:medicine
• See also Wikisaurus:pharmaceutical

Derived terms

Terms derived from medicine (noun)

Ayurvedic medicine clinical medicine Edison's medicine energy medicine evidence-based medicine folk medicine

forced medicine indigenous medicine medicinal medicine ball medicine dance medicine man

medicine show organized medicine take one's medicine taste of one's own medicine traditional medicine

Related terms

Terms etymologically related to medicine (noun)

medic medicament

medication medicate

premedication

Translations

substance which promotes healing

• Afrikaans: medisyne
• Alabama: aissi
• Albanian: ilaç (sq) m
• Arabic: دواء m (dawāʾ)
• Aramaic: סמא m (sāma)
• Armenian: դեղ (hy) (deł), դեղորայք (dełoraykʿ)
• Asturian: melecina f
• Azeri: ilaç, dərman
• Bashkir: дарыу (darïw)
• Belarusian: лекі m pl (léki), лякарства n (ljakárstva)
• Breton: louzoù (br) pl
• Bulgarian: лекарство (bg) n (lekárstvo)
• Burmese: ဆေး (my) (hce:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 藥 (zh), 药 (zh) (yào), 藥材, 药材 (zh) (yàocái), 藥物 (zh), 药物 (zh) (yàowù)

• Czech: lék (cs) m
• Danish: medicin (da) c
• Dutch: medicijn (nl) n, geneesmiddel (nl) n
• Erzya: менькс (menʹks)
• Esperanto: kuracilo (eo)
• Estonian: arstirohi, medikament
• Ewe: atike n
• Faroese: heilivágur m
• Finnish: lääke (fi)
• French: médicament (fr) m, remède (fr) m
• Georgian: წამალი (camali)
• German: Arznei (de) f, Medizin (de) f, Medikament (de) n
• Greek: φάρμακο (el) n (fármako)

  Ancient: φαρμάκιον n (pharmákion), φαρμάκευμα n (pharmákeuma), βοήθημα n (boḗthēma)

• Haitian Creole: medikaman
• Hausa: magani (ha) m
• Hawaiian: lāʻau
• Hebrew: תרופה (he) f (trufā)
• Hindi: औषधि (aușadhi), औषध (aușadh)
• Hungarian: gyógyszer (hu), orvosság (hu)
• Icelandic: lyf (is) n
• Indonesian: obat (id)
• Italian: medicina (it) f, medicamento (it)
• Japanese: 薬 (ja) (くすり, kusuri)
• Kamba: daawa
• Kazakh: дауа (dawa), дәрі (däri)
• Khmer: ថ្នាំ (km) (tnam)
• Kikuyu: ndawa
• Korean: 약 (ko) (yak)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: derman (ku) m, îlac (ku) m

  Sorani: دەرمان (derman), دەوا (dewa)

• Kyrgyz: дары (darı)
• Lao: ຢາ (lo) (yā)
• Latin: medicina (la) f, ars curae f, ars curandi, ars curans
• Latvian: zāles f pl, medikaments m
• Lithuanian: vaistas (lt) m, medikamentas m
• Luhya: kamalesi
• Luxembourgish: Medezin m
• Macedonian: лек m (lek), лекарство n (lekárstvo)
• Malay: ubat (ms)
• Maori: rongoā
• Meru: ndawa
• Mongolian: эм тариа (em taria)
• Navajo: azeeʼ
• Neapolitan: 'mmericìna f
• Norwegian: legemiddel n, medikament n, medisin (no) m
• Persian: دارو (fa) (dâru)
• Polish: lekarstwo (pl) n, lek (pl) m, medykament (pl) m
• Portuguese: remédio (pt) m, medicamento (pt)
• Romanian: medicament (ro) n
• Russian: лекарство (ru) n (lekárstvo), медикамент (ru) m (medikamént), лека́рственное сре́дство n (lekárstvennoje srédstvo)
• Scottish Gaelic: leigheas m, cungaidh f, ìoc m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лек m, лијек m, здравило n

  Roman: lek m, lijek (sh) m, zdravilo (sh) n

• Slovak: liek m
• Slovene: zdravilo (sl) n
• Sotho: moriana
• Spanish: medicamento (es) m, medicina (es) f
• Swahili: dawa (sw)
• Swedish: läkemedel (sv) n, medicin (sv) c
• Tajik: дору (doru)
• Tamil: மருந்து (ta) (maruntu)
• Taos: woléne
• Tatar: дару (tt) (daru)
• Telugu: మందు (te) (maṃdu), ఔషదం (auṣadaṃ)
• Thai: ยา (th) (ya)
• Tok Pisin: marasin
• Turkish: ilaç (tr)
• Turkmen: derman
• Ukrainian: ліки m pl (líky), лік m (lik), лікарство n (likárstvo)
• Uzbek: iloj, dori, medikament
• Vietnamese: thuốc (vi)
• Yoruba: oogun
• Zulu: iselapho class 7/8, umuthi (zu) class 3/4

treatment or cure

• Arabic: علاج (ar) m (ʿilāj)
• Armenian: դեղ (hy) (deł), դեղորայք (dełoraykʿ), բուժում (bužum)
• Belarusian: лячэнне n (ljačénnje)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 中醫, 中医 (zh) (zhōngyī), 治療 (zh), 治疗 (zh) (zhìliáo)

• Czech: léčba (cs) f
• Ewe: atike n, amatsi n
• Finnish: hoito (fi)
• French: traitement (fr) m, médicaments (fr) m pl
• Georgian: მკურნალობა (mkurnaloba)
• Greek: αγωγή (el) f (agogí)
• Japanese: 治療 (ja) (ちりょう, chiryō)

• Latvian: (process of treatment) ārstēšana f, (treatment in general) ārstniecība f, (treatment with a supposed successful outcome) izārstēšana f
• Macedonian: лекување n (lekúvanje), лек m (lek)
• Portuguese: tratamento (pt) m
• Romanian: terapie (ro) f, tratament (ro) n
• Russian: лечение (ru) n (lečénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: leigheas m
• Slovak: liečba f
• Taos: woléne
• Thai: การรักษา (kan raksa)
• Tok Pisin: marasin
• Ukrainian: лікування n (likuvánnja), лік m (lik)

field of study

• Albanian: mjekësi f
• Arabic: طب (ar) m (ṭibb)
• Armenian: բժշկություն (hy) (bžškutʿyun), բժշկագիտություն (bžškagitutʿyun)
• Azeri: tibb (az)
• Belarusian: медыцына f (medycýna)
• Breton: medisinerezh m
• Bulgarian: медицина (bg) f (medicína)
• Burmese: အာယုဗ္ဗေဒ (my) (ayubbeda.)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 醫學, 医学 (zh) (yīxué)方劑學, 方剂学 (fāngjìxué)

• Czech: lékařství (cs) n
• Danish: medicin (da) c
• Dutch: geneeskunde (nl) f, (archaic) artsenij f
• Esperanto: medicino (eo)
• Estonian: meditsiin
• Faroese: læknafrøði f
• Finnish: lääketiede (fi)
• French: médecine (fr) f
• Georgian: მედიცინა (medic’ina)
• German: Medizin (de) f
• Greek: ιατρική (el) f (iatrikí)
• Hebrew: רפואה (he) f (r'fuá)
• Hungarian: orvostudomány (hu), orvostan (hu)
• Icelandic: læknisfræði (is) f
• Italian: medicina (it) f, clinica (it) f
• Japanese: 医学 (ja) (いがく, igaku)
• Kazakh: медицина (medïcïna)
• Korean: 의학 (ko) (uihak) (醫學 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: tib (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: медицина (meditsina)

• Lao: ວິຊາແພດ (wi sā phǣt)
• Latin: medicina (la), medicina (la) f
• Latvian: medicīna f
• Lithuanian: medicina (lt) f
• Macedonian: медицина f (medicína)
• Malay: perubatan
• Mongolian: анагаах ухаан (anagaah uhaan)
• Neapolitan: 'mmericìna f
• Norwegian: medisin (no) m
• Persian: پزشکی (fa) (pezeški), طب (fa) (tebb)
• Polish: medycyna (pl) f
• Portuguese: medicina (pt) f
• Romanian: medicină (ro)
• Russian: медицина (ru) f (medicína)
• Scottish Gaelic: eòlas-leigheas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: медицина f

  Roman: medicina (sh) f

• Slovak: lekárstvo n, medicína f
• Slovene: medicina (sl) f
• Spanish: medicina (es) f
• Swedish: medicin (sv) c, läkarvetenskap c, läkekonst c
• Tajik: тиб (tib), пизишкӣ (piziškī)
• Tatar: медицина (meditsina)
• Telugu: వైద్యం (te) (vaidyaṃ)
• Thai: แพทยศาสตร์ (phaetthayasat)
• Tok Pisin: marasin
• Turkish: tıp (tr)
• Turkmen: medisina
• Ukrainian: медицина (uk) f (medycýna)
• Uzbek: meditsina, (archaic) tib
• Volapük: medinav (vo)

profession

• Arabic: طب (ar) m (ṭibb)
• Armenian: բժշկություն (hy) (bžškutʿyun)
• Czech: lékařství (cs) n
• Dutch: geneeskunde (nl), (archaic) artsenij f
• Finnish: lääketiede (fi)
• Greek: ιατρική (el) f (iatrikí)
• Latin: medicina (la) f
• Latvian: medicīna f

• Portuguese: medicina (pt) f
• Russian: медицина (ru) f (medicína)
• Scottish Gaelic: leigheas m
• Thai: แพทย์ (th) (phaet)
• Tok Pisin: marasin
• Ukrainian: медицина (uk) f (medycýna)

ritual Native American magic

• Alabama: apofka
• Danish: medicin (da)
• Dutch: medicijn (nl) n

• Hungarian: varázsszer
• Macedonian: вражење n (vráženje), вражба f (vrážba)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} bar m, ^{(please verify)} ilaç m
• Breton: ^{(please verify)} mezegiezh f
• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} medicament m
• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} दवाई (davāī)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} obat

• Jèrriais: ^{(please verify)} méd'cinne f, ^{(please verify)} méd'cinn'nie f
• Marathi: ^{(please verify)} औषद (oušad)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} leac m, f
• Swahili: ^{(please verify)} dawa, (noun 5,6) ^{(please verify)} madawa pl (1,2)
• Tamil: ^{(please verify)} ஔடதம் (auṭatam)

Verb

medicine (third-person singular simple present medicines, present participle medicining, simple past and past participle medicined)

1. (rare, obsolete) To treat with medicine.
   • 1857, Delia Bacon, The philosophy of the plays of Shakspere unfolded:

     And we shall find, under the head of the medicining of the body, some things on the subject of medicine in general, which could be better said there than here, because of the wrath of professional dignitaries,- the eye of the 'basilisk,' was not perhaps quite so terrible in that quarter then, as it was in some others.

See also

• therapy
• panacea

References

• Prescription Desk Reference, Prescription Drug Information:
• “medicine” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• "medicine" in the Merriam-Webster On-line dictionary
• "medicine" in the Hutchinson Encyclopaedia, Helicon Publishing LTD 2007.
• medicine in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• medicine at OneLook Dictionary Search

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Italian

Noun

medicine f

1. plural form of medicina

Anagrams

• endemici

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Middle French

Etymology

From Old French medecine, with the i added back to reflect the original Latin medicīna.

Noun

medicine f (plural medicines)

1. medicine (act of practising medical treatment)

Descendants

• French: médecine