What does allopathy mean?
Allopathy is the treatment of disease by conventional medical means — chiefly pharmaceutical drugs and surgery — whose effects are intended to counteract or differ from the symptoms of the illness itself. The prefix 'allo-' comes from the Greek meaning 'other', signalling this contrast. The term was actually coined in the early nineteenth century by Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, who used it to characterise and criticise the orthodox medicine of his day; it was not a name chosen by mainstream doctors themselves. Today allopathy appears most often in debates about complementary and alternative medicine, where it functions as shorthand for conventional, evidence-based healthcare, particularly in South Asian English where 'allopathic medicine' is a common everyday phrase. Many physicians regard the label as imprecise for modern scientific medicine, but it remains firmly embedded in public vocabulary as the counterpart to homeopathy and other alternative systems.
nounThe treatment of disease by conventional means — typically drugs or surgery that produce effects different from (allo-, 'other than') the symptoms of the disease itself. The term was coined by the founder of homeopathy as a contrastive label for mainstream medicine.
- Conventional, science-based medical treatment using drugs or surgery whose effects differ from the symptoms of the disease being treated.
"Her GP practises conventional allopathy, so she sees a homeopath separately for her chronic migraines."
"Critics of alternative therapies sometimes defend allopathy as the only approach supported by rigorous clinical trials."
"In nineteenth-century America, battles raged between practitioners of allopathy and the newer schools of homeopathy and eclectic medicine."
Rarely pluralised; the word is almost always treated as an uncountable abstraction referring to a system of medicine.
"Different national traditions have developed their own distinct allopathies over time."
The word 'allopathy' wasn't coined by doctors of conventional medicine at all — it was invented by Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, as a critical label for his rivals.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of allopathy
Allopathy derives from the Greek roots 'allos' (other, different) and 'pathos' (suffering, feeling), combined in the early nineteenth century by Samuel Hahnemann, the German physician who founded homeopathy. He coined the term to describe the orthodox medicine of his era, arguing that its remedies acted differently from the disease's symptoms, in contrast to his own principle of treating 'like with like'. It belongs to the same '-pathy' family as words such as sympathy, apathy, empathy, and homeopathy itself.
Related word forms
How allopathy is actually used
The word is largely used in discussions of complementary and alternative medicine, where it serves as a contrastive term for mainstream healthcare. Many physicians consider it an imprecise or outdated label for modern evidence-based medicine, since it originated as a polemical coinage by homeopaths rather than a self-description by the medical profession.
Easily confused with allopathy
Homeopathy treats disease with extreme dilutions of substances that supposedly cause symptoms similar to the illness ('like cures like'), whereas allopathy uses treatments whose effects differ from the disease's symptoms.