Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “medical” come from?

Medical derives from Middle French medical, from Latin medicalis, an adjective formed from Latin medius meaning middle, with the Latin suffix -icus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots -kos and med-.

medical (English): Of or pertaining to the practice of medicine;...

Definitions

  1. Of or pertaining to the practice of medicine;...

Ancestry of “medical”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchmédicalmedical
2Idomedikophysician, doctor
3Latinmedicushealing, curative, medical; magic; a doctor,...
4LatinmedeorI heal, cure, remedy, am good for or against a...
5Proto-Italicmedēōrheal
6Proto-Indo-Europeanmed-to measure; to give advice; healing

Words derived from “medical”

  • biomedical
  • medically
  • medicalization
  • nonmedical
  • medicalisation
  • paramedical
  • aeromedical
  • ethnomedical
  • premedical
  • biomedically
  • telemedical
  • medicalize
  • biomedicalization
  • nonmedically
  • sociomedical
  • nanomedical
  • nonbiomedical
  • electromedical
  • medicalise
  • demedicalization
  • psychomedical
  • unmedical
  • medicalese
  • pseudomedical
Every word from Proto-Indo-European med- →