physician
/fəˈzɪʃən/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.18 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A practitioner of physic, i.e. a specialist in internal medicine, especially as opposed to a surgeon; a practitioner who treats with medication rather than with surgery.
noun
A medical doctor trained in human medicine.
Example Sentences
- "His forefathers had been, as a rule, professional men—physicians and lawyers; his grandfather died under the walls of Chapultepec Castle while twisting a tourniquet for a cursing dragoon; an uncle remained indefinitely at Malvern Hill;[…]."
- "In 2009, the Obama Administration released guidelines on enhanced interrogation written in 2003 and 2004 by the CIA Office of Medical Services. ^((OMS).1-3(appendix F)) The OMS guidelines, even in redacted form, and opinions from the US Department of Justice's (DOJ’s) Office of Legal Counsel show that CIA physicians, psychologists, and other health care personnel had important roles in enhanced interrogation."
- "The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates promoted wine for various purposes, including reducing fevers and dressing wounds."
- "The doctor had to go to London for a physician to take charge of his practice[…]."
Etymology
From Middle English fisicien, from Old French fisicïen (“physician”) (modern French physicien (“physicist”)), from fisique (“art of healing”), from Latin physica (“natural science”), from Ancient Greek φυσική ἐπιστήμη (phusikḗ epistḗmē, “knowledge of nature”), from φυσικός (phusikós, “pertaining to nature”). Displaced native Middle English læche, leche, archaic English leech (“physician”). Morphologically physic + -ian.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: fisicien, fisicïen, physica, φυσική ἐπιστήμη
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /fəˈzɪʃən/
- British English: /fɪˈzɪʃn̩/
Inflected Forms
physicians (plural)
phisician (alternative, obsolete)
phisitian (alternative, obsolete)
physitian (alternative, obsolete)