empiric
/ɛmˈpɪɹɪk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.85 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
noun
A member of a sect of ancient physicians who based their theories solely on experience.
noun
Someone who is guided by empiricism; an empiricist.
noun
Any unqualified or dishonest practitioner; a charlatan; a quack.
Example Sentences
- "An empiric oftentimes, and a silly chirurgeon, doth more strange cures than a rational physician."
- "[…] Paracelsus and some few other sooty Empiricks, rather then (as they are fain to call themselves) Philosophers, having their eyes darken'd, and their Brains troubl'd with the smoke of their own Furnaces, began to rail at the Peripatetick Doctrine, which they were too illiterate to understand […]"
- "[…] and must therefore swallow down Opinions, as silly People do Empiricks['] Pills, without knowing what they are made of[…]"
- "The fact is, that since a good, sound, honest, efficient, automatic, nonmetallic currency and standard was tampered with in 1893, India has been a happy hunting-ground for any empiric who conjured with a new scheme of currency, no matter how fantastic."
- "To the disgust of doctors, the royal family at Versailles allowed one Brun, a wandering empiric […], to administer a proprietary ‘sovereign remedy’ to the ailing monarch."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Ancient Greek ἐν (en) Ancient Greek ἐν- (en-) Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂ Proto-Indo-European *périh₂ Proto-Hellenic *péřřa Ancient Greek πεῖρα (peîra) Ancient Greek -ος (-os) Ancient Greek ἔμπειρος (émpeiros) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek ἐμπειρία (empeiría) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ῐκός (-ĭkós) Ancient Greek ἐμπειρῐκός (empeirĭkós)bor. Latin empīricuslbor. English empiric Borrowed from Latin empiricus, from Ancient Greek ἐμπειρῐκός (empeirĭkós, “experienced”), from ἐμπειρία (empeiría, “experience, mere experience or practice without knowledge, especially in medicine, empiricism”), from ἔμπειρος (émpeiros, “experienced or practised in”), from ἐν (en, “in”) + πεῖρα (peîra, “a trial, experiment, attempt”). Not related to empire.