placebo

See also: Placebo

English

Etymology

From Middle English placebo, from Latin placēbō (“I will please”), the first-person singular future active indicative of placeō (“I please”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pləˈsiːbəʊ/
• IPA^(key): /pləˈsiboʊ/
• Rhymes: -iːbəʊ

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

placebo (plural placebos or placeboes)

1. (medicine) A dummy medicine containing no active ingredients; an inert treatment. [from 18th c.]
   • 2010, Edzard Ernst, The Guardian, 22 Feb 2010:

     The acid test, I thought, was whether homeopathic remedies behave differently from placebos when submitted to clinical trials.

2. (Roman Catholicism) The vespers sung in the office for the dead. [from 13th c.]
   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 349:

     There the placebo, the office for the dead, was sung, and a vigil kept throughout the night.

Antonyms

• nocebo

Derived terms

Derived terms

• antiplacebo
• nonplacebo

• placebic
• placebo effect

Translations

a dummy medicine containing no active ingredients; an inert treatment

• Catalan: placebo m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 安慰劑／安慰剂 (zh) (ānwèijì), 安慰剂 (zh) (ānwèijì)

• Erzya: чавоменге (čavomenge)
• Finnish: lumelääke (fi), plasebo (fi)
• French: placebo (fr) m
• Galician: placebo m
• German: Placebo (de) n, Plazebo n
• Hebrew: פְּלָצֶבּוֹ (he) m (platzébo)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Icelandic: lyfleysa f, þóknunarhrifslyf n
• Irish: placebo
• Italian: placebo (it)
• Japanese: 偽薬 (ぎやく, giyaku), プラセボ (purasebo)
• Macedonian: плацебо n (placebo)
• Portuguese: placebo (pt) m
• Russian: плаце́бо (ru) n (placébo)
• Spanish: placebo m
• Swedish: placebo (sv)

Anagrams

• Obecalp

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin placēbō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌplaːˈseː.boː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pla‧ce‧bo

Noun

placebo m (plural placebo's)

1. placebo
2. (obsolete) sycophant

Derived terms

• het placebo zingen
• placebo spelen

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin placēbō.

Noun

placebo m (plural placebos)

1. placebo

Further reading

• “placebo”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Interlingua

Noun

placebo (plural placebos)

1. placebo

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Italian

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin

Noun

placebo m (uncountable)

1. (pharmacology, figuratively) placebo

Derived terms

• effetto placebo

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) placēbō

1. first-person singular future active indicative of placeō

References

• placebo in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

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Middle English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin placēbo, the first-person singular future active indicative of placeō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plaːˈsɛːbɔː/

Noun

placebo (plural placeboes)

1. (Christianity) The vespers sung in the office for the dead.

   • a. 1380, John Wycliffe, Of feyned contemplatif lif, of ſong, of þe ordynal of ſalisbury, & of bodely almes & worldly byſyneſse of preſtis; hou bi þes foure þe fend lettiþ hem fro prechynge of þe gospel‎^[1]:

     Þan were matynys & maſse & euen ſong, placebo & dirige & comendacion & matynes of oure lady ordeyned of ſynful men, to be ſongen wiþ heiȝe criynge to lette men fro þe ſentence & vnderſtondynge of þat þat was þus ſongen, & to maken men wery & vndiſpoſid to ſtudie goddis lawe for akyng of hedis […]

     Then there were matins, mass, evensong, placebo, dirges, commendations, and matins of Our Lady, which originated from sinful men, to be sung with high-pitched shrieking to keep people from the meaning and understanding of that which was sung, as to make men weary and unsuited to study God's law because of headaches […]

2. Talk for buttering someone up, making them sycophantic or pleasing them.
3. A representation or exemplar of adulation or sycophancy.

Descendants

• English: placebo

References

• “plācēbo, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-05-07.

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pla.ˈse.bu/
• Hyphenation: pla‧ce‧bo

Noun

placebo m (plural placebos)

1. (medicine) placebo (a dummy medicine containing no active ingredients)

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Spanish

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin

Noun

placebo m (plural placebos)

1. placebo