2020-11-28
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด P – physician & GP & doctor
แนะนำการใช้ ตามที่ส่วนใหญ่ใช้ แต่ละท้องถิ่น
ความหมาย อาจผันแปร ตาม ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ ในประโยค
Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง physician = ‘fi-ZISH-uhn’
ออกเสียง GP = (abb. of ‘General Practitioner)
ออกเสียง doctor = ‘DOK-ter’
Farlex Trivia Dictionary.
Physician =
- Another word forconventional medical treatment
is allopathy; an allopath or allopathist is a physician.
- Comes from Greek pais/paidos, "child," and iatros,
"physician."
- The equipment of a medical institution or physician.
Farlex Trivia Dictionary
Doctor = physician
Doctor is derived from Latin doctus, "having been taught; learned,"
from docere, "to teach";
physician comes from Latin physica, "natural science; physics."
See also related terms for taught.
Dictionary.com
“M.D.” vs. “Ph.D.” vs. “Dr.”: Are They Synonyms?
Quick: when you hear the word doctor, what do you picture?
Most would probably describe someone
in a white lab coat with a stethoscope hanging around their neck
or someone in medical scrubs
—someone you would seek out if you have a deep cut that needed stitches.
That word doctor, however,
is a title assigned to many who don’t come close to that description,
many of whom you wouldn’t want stitching up that cut.
Take your English professor, for instance. No offense, Dr. Barrett.
It can all be a bit confusing,
which is why it’s important
to know who and why someone might be called a doctor,
as well as what all those initials and abbreviations
after their name mean.
Here we break it all down.
What does Dr. mean?
Let’s start with doctor or Dr. for short.
While the first definition of the word is
“a person licensed to practice medicine,”
that doesn’t mean you want to take medical advice
from anyone who calls themselves a doctor.
There are many looser definitions of the word that follow
and, frankly, make things a bit confusing.
For example,
the third definition is older slang for a “cook, as at a camp or on a ship,” while the seventh entry is “an eminent scholar and teacher.”
Bugs Bunny didn’t help matters either by plying anyone
and everyone with his famous greeting, “What’s up, doc?”
The term doctor can be traced back to the late 1200s,
and it stems from a Latin word meaning “to teach.”
It wasn’t used to describe a licensed medical practitioner until about 1400, and it wasn’t used as such with regularity until the late 1600s.
It replaced the former word used for medical doctors
—leech, which is now considered archaic.
Physician vs. doctor: are these synonyms?
While the term physician is a synonym for doctor,
it’s typically used to refer to those who practice general medicine
rather than those who perform surgery, aka surgeons.
A quack, on the other hand, is defined as “a fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill.”
What does M.D. mean?
Moving on to initials that carry more weight than a nod from Bugs,
let’s look at M.D.s.
M.D., which can be used with or without the periods (M.D. or MD)
is the designation for a medical doctor.
This is earned by attending medical school
(typically a four-year program after completing at least one undergraduate degree, plus a residency program),
and learning to diagnose patients’ symptoms and offer treatment.
The initials M and D stem from the Latin title Medicīnae Doctor.
There are many different types of doctors,
with different specialties,
but if you have a physical ailment,
visiting a doctor with the initials M.D. is a good place to start.
Specialty doctors may add even more initials to their title,
such as
DCN (doctor of clinical nutrition),
DDS (doctor of dental surgery), or
countless others they acquire with additional training.
To make things even more confusing,
some may add abbreviations from medical associations they belong to, such as FAAEM (Fellow of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine).
What does Ph.D. mean?
As for Ph.D., this stands for “doctor of philosophy.”
It stems from the Latin term Philosophiae Doctor.
You can get a Ph.D. in any number ofsubjects,
from anthropology to mythological studies.
It’s not an easy feat, however, as to earn one,
you must do original research and write a dissertation.
Ph.D. vs. M.D.: are these synonyms?
There are two big differences between Ph.D.s and M.D.s.
When it comes to medicine,
M.D.s can prescribe medications, and Ph.D.s can’t.
And yes, it’s possible to be both an M.D. and a Ph.D.
In fact, some med schools offer programs
in which you can achieve both simultaneously.
You can also get a professional doctorate degree in a number of fields.
For example,
you might receive a doctorate of education, an Ed.D.
So, in a nutshell,
both M.D.s and Ph.Ds can be referred to as doctors.
If you’re looking for someone to treat what ails you physically,
then you want at least an M.D. following their name.
If you want to dig deep into a subject and get advice from someone who has done their own research and who likely knows the latest and greatest developments in a particular area, then you’re probably looking for a Ph.D.
And if someone has both, even better
—depending on your needs,
it may be just what the doctor ordered.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Word History
Why Is a Medical Expert Called a 'Physician'?
And why is 'physicist' so different?
2 Jun 2020
What to Know
Medical experts are called physicians
because the word physic
originally referred to
both the practice of medicine and to natural science.
As scientific fields matured,
physic as it applied to healing was phased out in favor of medicine.
Physicist was coined to refer to someone who studies "physics," and physician was left with its association with medical doctors.
We in the dictionary trade tend to concentrate more
on new words coming into the language
than words that are quietly leaving it.
This is understandable and even predictable,
but sometimes the relics of disused words hiding in plain sight
tell us a story about how the language hasevolved.
Case in point:
a scientist studies science;
a dentist applies dentistry;
a plumber works with plumbing.
But why is it that a person
who practices medicine is called a physician?
The answer can be found through the lexicographical method.
"Physics" and Medicine
It turns out that physic was used,
starting in the 1400s,
to mean “the practice of healing disease”
and “a remedy for disease”
—both now usually expressed by the word medicine.
In pre-modern times the study of medicine and natural science
were closely connected, and the term physic applied to both.
In Shakespeare’s day, physic was used to mean “medicine” and physician was used as we still do today, meaning “one who practices medicine”:
This Physicke but prolongs thy sickly days (Hamlet)
More needs she the divine than the physician.
(Macbeth) Shakespeare’s contemporary Thomas Nashe
used physic as the personification of medicine in his poem
called “A Litany in Time of Plague”:
Rich men, trust not in wealth,
Gold cannot buy you health;
Physic himself must fade.
All things to end are made,
The plague full swift goes by;
I am sick, I must die.
Medicine wasa synonym for this “remedy for disease”
use of physic, and the two words co-existedfor centuries:
Thus, did they all things that were contrary to their safety,
as if no physic or medicine had been bestowed upon the world by the true physician of all —William Camden, Britain, or A chorographicall description of the most flourishing kingdomes, 1637
In the 1725 dictionary of Nathan Bailey, the largest dictionary of its time, the definition of medicine is written in terms of physic:
MEDICINE: the Art of Physick; also a Physical Remedy.
And yet, in the same dictionary,
Bailey also clearly expresses awareness of a changing vocabulary as the scientific standards evolved:
PHYSICK: is in General the Science of all material Beings, or whatsoever concerns the System of this visible Wor[l]d, tho’ in a more limited and improper Sense it is apply’d to the Science of Medicine; the Art of curing Diseases, or Medicines prepared for that purpose
Branching Fields of Science
With his judgy “improper” note, Bailey was acknowledging a scientific, cultural, and linguistic change; it was only after more specialized fields separated from each other that the words that name those fields became established.
In the 18th century,
chemistry separated from alchemy,
astronomy separated from astrology,
biology was coined, and
physics became restricted to the study of matter
and energy rather than living things.
A century later, in 1828, Noah Webster also gives physic both a definition and a note about its fading usage:
The art of healing diseases. This is now generally called medicine.
Physician vs. Physicist
This left the medical use of physic stranded,
lexically speaking:
physics was the name for a newbranch of science, and medicine conveniently and completely
displaced the use of physic that was no longer used.
Physician, however, didn’t get the memo.
It had long been used for both
“one who studies natural science” and
“one who practices medicine,”
but once the field of physics had been isolatedfrom the others
and, ultimately,
physicist was coined in the 1800s as the term
for a specialist in the new science,
physician was left with the remnants of a root word
that had changed in meaning.
In French, the word médecin is used for a person who practiced médecine
—but English isn’t so rigorously logical.
Physicians, Doctors, and Surgeons
Of course, we could just call a physician a doctor,
but even this is a term that has changed over time.
Doctor comes from the Latin word for“teacher,”
and gave us related words like doctrine and document.
In the King James Bible, its meaning is something like “a religious scholar”:
And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
Later, the term became used for those
attaining the highest degree of learning in a particular field,
with medicine being among the disciplines.
It may simply be because the public has much more reason
to seek out a medical doctor than,
say, a doctor of literature or applied math,
that doctor as a general term
became synonymous with practicing physicians
rather than with practicing physicists.
Finally, another near-synonym is surgeon.
Surgery was often looked down upon by physicians
and was in fact performed by barbers from the middle ages
until well into the 1700s
(the Oxford English Dictionary even has an entry for barber-surgeon)
—it’s the reason a barber’s pole is red and white to this day.
They were trained by apprenticeship
and their manual skills were considered
less intellectually challenging than the educations
that made physicians “doctors.”
Ultimately, of course,
surgeons became the highly trained
and highly skilled people we know them to be,
and whether we call them doctors orphysicians,
are among the medical professionals
who are trusted because of their demonstrable expertise.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
The words of the Week - 1/24/20
Some of the words that defined the week of January 24, 2020
'Archive'/'doctor'
Both archive and doctor both received considerable attention last week,
after the ‘the National Archives’
were found to have doctored a photo of a women’s march.
The large color photograph that greets visitors to a National Archives exhibit celebrating the centennial of women’s suffrage shows a massive crowd filling Pennsylvania Avenue NW for the Women’s March on Jan. 21, 2017, the day after President Trump’s inauguration. — Joe Heim, The Washington Post, 17 Jan. 2020
But signs critical of the president that appeared in the photo — including one that said “God Hates Trump” — were doctored to blur out Mr. Trump’s name, according to The Washington Post, which first reported on the alterations. —Maria Cramer, The New York Times, 18 Jan. 2020
The sense of archive employed here
is “a place in which public records or historical materials
(such as documents) are preserved.”
It came into English in the 16th century, from French and Latin,
and may be traced back to the Greek archē, meaning “rule, government.”
Finally in suche places as the goodes woulde not reache to foster the poore, many citirens béeing admonished, intreated, & persuaded by the Ministers of the churches, haue bequeathed something by their testaments, many also haue assigned rentes, and yerely pensions, out of their landes, gardens, or houses, as is to bée séene in the writinges, Instrumentes, and Euidence, which are kepte for the same purpose in the Archiues and Treasuries of the sayde Churches and almes houses. — Andreas Hyperius (trans. by H. T.), The regiment of the pouertie, 1572
Doctor has been in use as a noun since the 14th century, and as a verb since the 18th. The earliest verb use of doctor was “to give medical treatment to,” but the word has also been used with the meanings “to adapt or modify for a desired end” and “to alter deceptively” since the 1720s. Among the first things to be so doctored were alcoholic drinks.
Sir, I say that when I drink a Cup of Beer, or Ale, of my own Brewing, I know the Ingredients, and Innocence of the Composition, and therefore drink with Safety and Pleasure; but when I drink Wine, I know not what Mixtures and Adulterations it has pass’d thro’, what Tricks has been play’d with it by Coopers, and Vintners, nay more, how it has been Sophisticated abroad; for it seems of late, that they have learn’d the Art of doctoring their own Wines, so that we may have it imported here, yet adulterated there; in that Cafe Men know not what they Drink. – Saynought Slyboots, The tavern scuffle, 1726
The word photograph did not exist until the 1830s, and so we did not speak of doctoring them in the 18th century.
However, by the end of the 19th century the alteration of such images was sufficiently common that they were commonly referred to as being doctored.
I replied that he had sold a “doctored” photograph for an original drawing, and requested him to tell Mr. Stebbins I said this, so the matter might be investigated while there was yet time to do justice to the buyer. — The Art Amateur (New York, NY), Mar. 1889
On the other hand, how can a photograph lie, unless it is doctored? — Turf, Field, and Farm (New York, NY) 27 Jun. 1890
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
'Doctored'
A back and forth between
The Washington Post and the Twitter account for President Trump’s reelection campaign raised significant questions about words
and who among us can really say what a word means, anyway?
If we are to be entirely honest,
there are some aspects of this conversation which leave us at a loss,
and uncertain as to the best way to respond.
However, we are fairly sure that there is, on at least the part of one party,
a question about
the precise meaning of the word doctored,
and so we shall focus on that.
Although doctor has been in use since the 14th century as a noun,
it did not see use as a verb until the beginning of the 17th.
The earliest sense of use as a verb we are aware isa transitive one:
“to give medical treatment to.”
By the end of the following century
doctor had taken on the meaning of “to alter deceptively.”
Doctor may also mean
“to adapt or modify for a desired end by alteration or special treatment”
and “to restore to good condition”;
without wading into political waters
we are reasonably certain that at least one of the above senses
may be used to describe the montage of Donald Trump and Sylvester Stallone.
Collins COBUILD English Usage
Physician – physicist
1. 'physician'
A physician is a doctor,
especially one who treats illnesses or injuries
using medicine rather than surgery.
Physician is a formal or old-fashioned word.
...a highly respected Victorian physician and surgeon.
2. 'physicist'
A physicist is a person who studies physics
or does research connected with physics.
...a nuclear physicist.
Dictionary of Problem Words and Expression
physician & GP & doctor
Physician is a general term for a doctorof medicine,
someone legally qualified to practice medicine.
The term is often employed to refer to anyone engaged
in the general practice of medicine
as distinguished from such specialists
as surgeons, ophthalmologists, and pediatricians.
All qualified physicians are doctorsof medicine,
but not all doctors practice medicine.
Doctor refers to anyone
who has been granted a doctor’s degree.
There are doctors of dentistry, veterinary science,
philosophy, the arts, letter, literature, science,
and many other disciplines.
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Physician is a formal word in USEnglish
= a doctor of general medicine
Physician is an old-fashioned wordin British E.
replaced by Doctor or GP = General Practitioner
GP = British abbreviation spelling for ‘General Practitioner’
G.P. = US abbreviation spelling
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
WORD FOCUS:
doctor
= similar words: physician (especially AmE.)
= a doctor who does operations: surgeon
= a doctor who treats mental illnesses: psychiatrist, psychotherapist,
Or ‘shrink’ (informal)
= a doctor who treats people's teeth: dentist, orthodontist
= a doctor who treats animals: vet, veterinarian (especially AmE)
someone who is training to be a doctor: medical student, intern (AmE)
the place where you go to see your doctor: surgery (BrE), office (AmE)
