medicine

English

Alternative forms

• medicin (obsolete)

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

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

The extended sense of "Indigenous magic" is a calque of Ojibwe mashkiki (“medicine”) or mide (or cognates in related languages) when used in compounds such as Grand Medicine Society, medicine lodge, medicine dance, medicine bag, medicine wheel, medicine man, Medicine Line, and bad medicine or place names such as Medicine Hat, Medicine Creek, etc.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

medicine (countable and uncountable, plural medicines)

1. A substance which specifically promotes healing when ingested or consumed in some way.
2. A treatment or cure.
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, "Of Innovation"

     Surely every medicine is an innovation; and he that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils […]

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 by a medicine man to promote a desired outcome in healing, hunting, warfare etc.
6. Among the Native Americans, any object supposed to give control over natural or magical forces, to act as a protective charm, or to cause healing.
   • (Can we date this quote?), F. H. Giddings, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     The North American Indian boy usually took as his medicine the first animal of which he dreamed during the long and solitary fast that he observed at puberty.

7. (obsolete) Black magic, superstition.
8. (obsolete) A philter 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.

9. (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

10. (slang) Recreational drugs, especially alcoholic drinks.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• Ayurvedic medicine
• clinical medicine
• Edison's medicine
• energy medicine
• evidence-based medicine
• folk medicine
• forced medicine
• hallway medicine
• indigenous medicine
• medicine ball
• medicine dance
• Medicine Hat
• Medicine Lodge
• medicine man
• medicine show
• organized medicine
• take one's medicine
• taste of one's own medicine
• traditional medicine
• Yellow Medicine County

 

Related terms

• medic
• medical
• medicament
• medicate
• medication
• medicinal
• premedication

 

Translations

substance which promotes healing

• Afrikaans: medisyne (af)
• Alabama: aissi
• Albanian: ilaç (sq) m
• Amharic: ሕክምና (ḥəkməna)
• Arabic: دَوَاء m (dawāʔ)
• Aramaic: סמא m (sāma)
• Armenian: դեղ (hy) (deġ), դեղորայք (hy) (deġoraykʻ)
• Assamese: ঔষধ (ouxodh)
• Asturian: melecina f
• Azerbaijani: ilaç (az), dərman (az)
• Bashkir: дарыу (darıw), дауа (dawa)
• Belarusian: ле́кі m pl (ljéki), ляка́рства n (ljakárstva)
• Bengali: ঔষধি (bn) (ōuśodhi), ঔষধ (bn) (ōuśodh)
• Breton: louzoù (br) pl
• Bulgarian: лека́рство (bg) n (lekárstvo)
• Burmese: ဆေး (my) (hce:)
• Buryat: эм (em)
• Catalan: medicament (ca)
• Cherokee: ᏅᏬᏘ (nvwoti)
• Chichewa: mankhwala
• Chinese:

  Dungan: йүә (yüə)

  Mandarin: 藥／药 (zh), 药 (zh) (yào), 藥材／药材 (zh) (yàocái), 药材 (zh) (yàocái), 藥物／药物 (zh) (yàowù), 药物 (zh) (yàowù), 藥品／药品 (zh) (yàopǐn), 药品 (zh) (yàopǐn)

• Chukchi: инэнмэԓевичгын (inėnmėḷevičgyn)
• Czech: lék (cs) m
• Danish: medicin (da) c, lægemiddel n
• Dutch: medicijn (nl) n, geneesmiddel (nl) n
• Emilian: midgénna
• Erzya: менькс (meńks)
• Esperanto: kuracilo (eo)
• Estonian: arstirohi, medikament
• Ewe: atike n
• Faroese: heilivágur m
• Finnish: lääke (fi)
• French: médicament (fr) m, remède (fr) m
• Galician: medicamento (gl) m, medicina (gl) f
• Gamilaraay: dhalbin
• Georgian: წამალი (c̣amali)
• German: Arznei (de) f, Medizin (de) f, Medikament (de) n
• Greek: φάρμακο (el) n (fármako)

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

• Greenlandic: nakorsaat, katsorsaat
• Gujarati: દવા (gu) f (davā), ઔષધ (gu) n (auṣadh)
• Haitian Creole: medikaman
• Hausa: magani (ha) m
• Hawaiian: lāʻau
• Hebrew: תְּרוּפָה (he) f (trufá)
• Hindi: औषधि f (auṣdhi), औषध (hi) f (auṣadh)
• Hungarian: gyógyszer (hu), orvosság (hu)
• Icelandic: lyf (is) n
• Igbo: ogwu
• Indonesian: obat (id)
• Irish: cógas m, leigheas m
• Italian: medicina (it) f, medicamento (it) m
• Japanese: 薬 (ja) (くすり, kusuri)
• Kabuverdianu: ramédi
• Kamba: daawa
• Kannada: ಮದ್ದು (kn) (maddu), ಔಷಧ (kn) (auṣadha)
• Kazakh: дауа (daua), дәрі (kk) (därı)
• Khmer: ថ្នាំ (km) (thnam), ឱសថ (km) (ʼaosɑt)
• Kikuyu: ndawa
• Korean: 약 (ko) (yak)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: ,

  Sorani: دەرمان (derman), دەوا (dewa)

• Kyrgyz: дары (ky) (darı)
• Lao: ຢາ (lo) (yā)
• Latin: medicīna (la) f
• Latvian: zāles f pl, medikaments m
• Lithuanian: vaistas (lt) m, medikamentas m
• Livonian: āinad
• Luhya: kamalesi
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Luxembourgish: Medezin m
• Lü: ᦊᦱ (ẏaa)
• Macedonian: лек m (lek), лекарство n (lekarstvo)
• Malay: ubat (ms)
• Malayalam: ഔഷധം (ml) (auṣadhaṁ)
• Manchu: ᠣᡴ᠋ᡨ᠋ᠣ (okto)
• Maori: rongoā, pūroi
• Marathi: औषध (auṣadh)
• Meru: ndawa
• Mongolian: эм (mn) (em)
• Navajo: azeeʼ
• Neapolitan: 'mmericìna f
• Nepali: औषध (ne) f (auṣadh)
• Northern Sami: dálkkas
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: legemiddel (no) n, medikament n, medisin (no) m, droge m (drug)

  Nynorsk: lækjemiddel n, medikament n, medicin m

• Old English: lǣċedōm m, lācnung f
• Oriya: ଔଷଧ (ôuṣôdhô)
• Pali: osadha
• Pashto: دوايي f (dawayí), دوا (ps) f (dawã)
• Persian: دارو (fa) (dâru), درمان (fa) (darmân)
• Polish: lekarstwo (pl) n, lek (pl) m inan, medykament (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: remédio (pt) m, medicamento (pt)
• Punjabi: ਦਵਾ f (davā)
• Quechua: jampina
• Romanian: medicament (ro) n
• Romansch: medicament m, remedi m
• Russian: лека́рство (ru) n (lekárstvo), медикаме́нт (ru) m (medikamént), лека́рственное сре́дство n (lekárstvennoje srédstvo)
• Sanskrit: औषध (sa) n (auṣadha)
• Scottish Gaelic: leigheas m, cungaidh f, ìoc m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лек m, лије̑к m, здравило n

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

• Sindhi: دوا (d~avaa)
• Sinhalese: ඔසුව n (osuwa), ඖෂධය (auṣadhaya)
• Slovak: liek m
• Slovene: zdravilo (sl) n
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: lěkarstwo n, lěk m, medikament m

• Sotho: moriana
• Spanish: medicamento (es) m, medicina (es) f
• Sundanese: ᮒᮒᮙ᮪ᮘ (tatamba)
• Swahili: dawa (sw)
• Swedish: läkemedel (sv) n, medicin (sv) c, drog (sv) c (drug)
• Tagalog: gamot (tl)
• Tajik: дору (tg) (doru)
• Tamil: மருந்து (ta) (maruntu)
• Taos: woléne
• Tatar: дару (tt) (daru)
• Telugu: మందు (te) (mandu), ఔషదం (auṣadaṁ)
• Thai: ยา (th) (yaa)
• Tibetan: སྨན (sman)
• Tigrinya: ሕክምና (ḥəkməna)
• Tok Pisin: marasin
• Turkish: ilaç (tr)
• Turkmen: derman
• Ukrainian: лі́ки m pl (líky), лік m (lik), ліка́рство n (likárstvo)
• Urdu: ڈرگ (ḍrag), اوشدهی f (auṣdhi), اوشدهہ f (auṣadh)
• Uyghur: دورا (dora)
• Uzbek: iloj (uz), dori (uz), medikament (uz)
• Venetian: medexina (vec) f
• Vietnamese: thuốc (vi)
• Waray-Waray: bulong
• Welsh: meddyginiaeth (cy) f
• White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
• Yakut: эмп (emp)
• Yiddish: מעדיצין (meditsin)
• Yoruba: oogun
• Zazaki: dermon
• Zhuang: yw
• Zulu: iselapho class 7/8, umuthi (zu) class 3/4

treatment or cure

• Arabic: عِلَاج (ar) m (ʕilāj), شِفَاء m (šifāʔ), دَوَاء m (dawāʔ)
• Armenian: դեղ (hy) (deġ), դեղորայք (hy) (deġoraykʻ), բուժում (hy) (bužum)
• Bashkir: дауа (dawa)
• Belarusian: лячэ́нне n (ljačénnje)
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: léčba (cs) f
• Ewe: atike n, amatsi n
• Finnish: hoito (fi)
• French: traitement (fr) m, médicaments (fr) m pl
• Galician: remedio m, tratamento (gl) m
• Georgian: მკურნალობა (mḳurnaloba)
• Greek: αγωγή (el) f (agogí)
• Indonesian: pengobatan (id)
• Japanese: 治療 (ja) (ちりょう, chiryō)
• Kabuverdianu: ramédi
• Korean: 치료 (ko) (chiryo)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: (process of treatment) ārstēšana f, (treatment in general) ārstniecība f, (treatment with a supposed successful outcome) izārstēšana f
• Macedonian: лекување n (lekuvanje), лек m (lek)
• Old English: lǣċedōm m, lācnung f
• Portuguese: tratamento (pt) m
• Romanian: terapie (ro) f, tratament (ro) n
• Russian: лече́ние (ru) n (lečénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: leigheas m
• Slovak: liečba f
• Swahili: tiba (sw)
• Tagalog: gamot (tl)
• Taos: woléne
• Thai: การรักษา (th) (gaan-rák-sǎa)
• Tok Pisin: marasin
• Ukrainian: лікува́ння n (likuvánnja), лік m (lik)
• Waray-Waray: tambal

field of study

• Albanian: mjekësi (sq) f
• Arabic: طِبّ (ar) m (ṭibb)
• Armenian: բժշկություն (hy) (bžškutʻyun), բժշկագիտություն (hy) (bžškagitutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: tibb (az)
• Belarusian: медыцы́на f (mjedycýna)
• Breton: medisinerezh m
• Bulgarian: медици́на (bg) f (medicína)
• Burmese: အာယုဗ္ဗေဒ (my) (ayubbeda.)
• Catalan: medicina (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Hakka: yî-ho̍k

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

• Czech: lékařství (cs) n
• Danish: medicin (da) c
• Dutch: geneeskunde (nl) f, (archaic) artsenij (nl) f
• Emilian: midgénna
• Esperanto: medicino (eo)
• Estonian: meditsiin
• Faroese: læknafrøði f
• Finnish: lääketiede (fi)
• French: médecine (fr) f
• Georgian: მედიცინა (medicina)
• German: Medizin (de) f, Heilkunde (de) f
• Greek: ιατρική (el) f (iatrikí)

  Ancient: ἰατρική f (iatrikḗ)

• Hebrew: רְפוּאָה (he) f (r'fuá)
• Hindi: आयुर्विज्ञान m (āyurvijñān)
• Hungarian: orvostudomány (hu), orvostan (hu), (with a particular attribute) orvoslás
• Icelandic: læknisfræði (is) f
• Ido: medicino (io)
• Indonesian: kedokteran (id)
• Irish: liacht f
• Italian: medicina (it) f, clinica (it) f
• Japanese: 医学 (ja) (いがく, igaku)
• Kazakh: медицина (kk) (medisina)
• Korean: 의학 (ko) (uihak) (醫學 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji:

• Kyrgyz: медицина (ky) (meditsina)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lao: ວິຊາແພດ (wi sā phǣt)
• Latin: medicīna (la) f, ars curae f, ars curandi f, ars curans f
• Latvian: medicīna f
• Lithuanian: medicina (lt) f
• Macedonian: медици́на f (medicína)
• Malay: perubatan
• Mongolian: анагаах ухаан (mn) (anagaax uxaan)
• Neapolitan: 'mmericìna f
• Norwegian: medisin (no) m
• Old English: lǣċedōm m, lǣċecræft m
• Persian: پزشکی (fa) (pezeški), طب (fa) (tebb)
• Polish: medycyna (pl) f
• Portuguese: medicina (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਤਿੱਬ (pa) f (tibba)
• Romanian: medicină (ro)
• Russian: медици́на (ru) f (medicína)
• Sanskrit: आयुर्वेद (sa) m (āyurveda)
• Scottish Gaelic: eòlas-leigheas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: медици́на f

  Roman: medicína (sh) f

• Slovak: lekárstvo n, medicína f
• Slovene: medicina (sl) f
• Spanish: medicina (es) f
• Swedish: medicin (sv) c, läkarvetenskap c, läkekonst (sv) c
• Tagalog: medisina
• Tajik: тиб (tib), пизишкӣ (tg) (piziškī)
• Tatar: медицина (meditsina)
• Telugu: వైద్యం (te) (vaidyaṁ)
• Thai: แพทยศาสตร์ (th) (pɛ̂ɛt-tá-yá-sàat)
• Tok Pisin: marasin
• Turkish: tıp (tr)
• Turkmen: medisina
• Ukrainian: медици́на (uk) f (medycýna)
• Urdu: طب (ur) f (tib)
• Uzbek: meditsina (uz), (archaic) tib (uz)
• Venetian: medexina (vec) f
• Volapük: medinav (vo)
• Yiddish: מעדיצין (meditsin)

profession

• Arabic: طِبّ (ar) m (ṭibb)
• Armenian: բժշկություն (hy) (bžškutʻyun)
• Belarusian: медыцы́на f (mjedycýna)
• Catalan: medicina (ca) f
• Czech: lékařství (cs) n
• Dutch: geneeskunde (nl), (archaic) artsenij (nl) f
• Finnish: lääketiede (fi)
• Greek: ιατρική (el) f (iatrikí)
• Indonesian: dokter (id)
• Irish: liacht f
• Korean: 의사 (ko) (uisa)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: medicina (la) f
• Latvian: medicīna f
• Old English: lǣċedōm m, lǣċecræft m
• Portuguese: medicina (pt) f
• Russian: медици́на (ru) f (medicína)
• Scottish Gaelic: leigheas m
• Slovak: medicína, lekárstvo
• Thai: แพทย์ (th) (pɛ̂ɛt)
• Tok Pisin: marasin
• Turkish: tıp (tr)
• Ukrainian: медици́на (uk) f (medycýna)
• Yiddish: מעדיצין (meditsin)

ritual Native American magic

• Alabama: apofka
• Danish: medicin (da)
• Dutch: medicijn (nl) n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: varázsszer
• Macedonian: вражење n (vraženje), вражба f (vražba)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} bar (sq) m, ^{(please verify)} ilaç (sq) m
• Breton: ^{(please verify)} mezegiezh f
• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} दवाई (hi) (davāī)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} obat (id)
• Marathi: ^{(please verify)} औषद (auṣad)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norman: ^{(please verify)} méd'cinne f (Jersey), ^{(please verify)} méd'cinn'nie f (Jersey)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} leac (ro) m or f
• Swahili: ^{(please verify)} dawa (sw), (noun 5,6) ^{(please verify)} madawa (sw) pl (1,2)
• Tamil: ^{(please verify)} ஔடதம் (ta) (auṭatam)

Verb

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, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• "medicine" in the Merriam-Webster On-line dictionary
• "medicine" in the Hutchinson Encyclopaedia, Helicon Publishing LTD 2007.
• “medicine”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “medicine”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

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Italian

Noun

medicine f

1. plural 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

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Spanish

Verb

medicine

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of medicinar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of medicinar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of medicinar.
4. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of medicinar.