Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “spin doctor” come from?

spin doctor (English) comes from English doctor, from Middle English doctour, from Anglo-Norman doctour, from Latin doctor, from Latin -tor, from Proto-Italic -tōr, from Proto-Indo-European -tōr, from Proto-Indo-European -tor-s.

spin doctor (English): A person employed to gloss over a poor public...

Definitions

  1. A person employed to gloss over a poor public...

Ancestry of “spin doctor”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishdoctorA physician; a member of the medical profession;...
2Middle Englishdoctourdoctor
3Anglo-NormandoctourAlternative spelling of doctur
4Latindoctorteacher, instructor; catechist
5Latin-tor-er
6Proto-Italic-tōr—
7Proto-Indo-European-tōrDerives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...
8Proto-Indo-European-tor-s—

Words derived from “spin doctor”

  • spindoctor
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tor-s →