apothecary
/əˈpɑθəˌkɛəɹi/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.74 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
5
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Synonym of pharmacist: a person who sells medicine, especially (historical) one who made and sold their own medicines in the medieval or early modern eras.
Archaic; Dated
Example Sentences
- "[T]he poticaries and barbarus wryters call it [the iris] Irios in the genetiue caſe."
- "O true Appothecarie! / Thy drugs are quicke. Thus with a kiſſe I die."
- "The girls, though their illness was long and dangerous, recovered under Mrs. Palmer's care, who watched over them as if they had been her own; and from that time an affection, as valuable as it was pleasant, sprang up between them. When Lady Anne returned, she called, and talked about every thing but the apothecary's bill."
- "It amused me to see the bustle and the life in the apothecary's shop across the street."
- "[K]nowledge of philtres, aphrodisiacs, and other sexual stimulants spread from the Arabs and the Moors, from Egypt and India into the European herbals, pharmacopeias, and apothecaries’ lore, and, on a more indeterminate level, among alchemists, wizards, and occultists."
- "The Russian people as a whole almost revered the apothecary, and they entered it as they would enter a sanctum."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Hellenic *apó Ancient Greek ᾰ̓πό (ăpó) Ancient Greek ᾰ̓πο- (ăpo-) Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *dʰédʰeh₁ti Ancient Greek τίθημι (títhēmi) Ancient Greek ἀποτίθημι (apotíthēmi)der. Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē)bor. Latin apothēca Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -ārius Medieval Latin apothēcāriusder. Old French apotecaireder. English apothecary From Old French apotecaire (whence French apothicaire), from Medieval Latin apothēcārius (“storekeeper”), from Latin apothēca (“(originally) repository, storehouse, warehouse; (later) shop, store”) + -ārius (occupational suffix), from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē, “a repository, storehouse”), from ἀπό (apó, “away”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put”), literally “a place where things are put away”.
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
- Root: *dʰeh₁-, apotecaire, apothēcārius, apothēca, ἀποθήκη
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əˈpɑθəˌkɛəɹi/
- British English: /əˈpɒθəkəɹi/
Usage
Inflected Forms
apothecaries (plural)
apothecarie (alternative, obsolete)
appothecarie (alternative, obsolete)
apothicarie (alternative, obsolete)
apoticary (alternative, obsolete)
ypothecar (alternative, Scotland)
ypothegar (alternative, Scotland)
pothecary (alternative)
potycary (alternative)
potycarye (alternative)
poticary (alternative)
poticarie (alternative)