Translation
doctor, physician
Examples
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The doctor came to the boy.
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The doctors teach the art.
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Without a doctor the disease wins.
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We seek the doctors' advice.
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He gave money to the doctor.
Medicus, medici is masculine, second declension. It is really an adjective, medicus, medica, medicum, "healing", that hardened into a noun; the feminine medica, a woman doctor, is attested and unremarkable.
Behind it sits medeor, a deponent verb meaning "I heal", which takes the dative: you heal to someone, not someone. The same root gives remedium and, through a different line, meditor and modus, all circling the idea of measuring and setting right. In Rome medicine was a Greek trade practised largely by freedmen and slaves, which is why Cato can sneer at doctors while Pliny records their fees; the social contempt is in the texts, not in the word. English medical, medicine and medic all come from it.
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medicus: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Latin word "medicus" (doctor, physician): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 8.