materia medica
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.33 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
6
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Synonym of pharmacology, particularly its development in early modern Europe.
Archaic; Uncountable
noun
Synonym of medicine: the substances so used, particularly traditional cures prepared from animals and plants such as herbal medicines but inclusive of early drugs.
Archaic
Example Sentences
- "Later on, in the Middle Ages, medical knowledge advanced to such an extent that textbooks on materia medica and germane subjects often treated this area of erotica."
- "CHIAN earth, in pharmacy, one of the medicinal earths of the ancients, the name of which is preſerved in the catalogues of the materia medica but of which nothing more than the name has been known for many ages in the ſhops..."
- "Mary Reynolds could list her physician-owner's entire materia medica (the common term for pharmacological supplies) for slaves in one breathː "Dr. Kilpatrick gave sick [slaves] ipecac and asafoetide and oil and turpentine and black fever pills.""
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: māteria