What does medicine mean?
Medicine most commonly refers to a substance used to treat or prevent disease. It also denotes the science and practice of diagnosing, treating, and preventing illness, a field that includes medicine as a discipline and clinical practice. In everyday speech, medicine can name a specific drug or remedy, but it is often broader than medication because it can include traditional preparations and non-drug remedies. The word also appears figuratively, as when something unpleasant is accepted as a necessary corrective. Although “take one’s medicine” may suggest a medicinal product, its established idiomatic meaning is to endure an unpleasant situation without complaint. In clinical and academic writing, medicine is formal and neutral, while medication more specifically identifies a substance administered for treatment. Medicine is therefore both concrete and abstract: it can name the material used to heal, the body of knowledge behind healing, or a figurative solution.
A substance used to treat or prevent disease, or the science and practice of diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease.
"Advances in medicine have made the procedure far less risky."
The meaning varies with context: “take your medicine” concerns a therapeutic substance, while “study medicine” refers to the academic and clinical field.
To administer medicine to or treat someone with medicine.
"The veterinarian medicine the horse after the accident."
Rare and archaic in modern English.
The plural is used for different medicines or for several individual medicinal products.
"She keeps her medicines in a locked cabinet."
Medicine can mean the substance that heals, the science behind healing, or a figurative corrective for life's smaller misdeeds.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does medicine come from?
Middle English medicine came through Old French medecine from Latin medicina, a word meaning “the art or science of healing.” Latin medicina was formed from medicus, meaning “physician” or “doctor,” which is related to mederi, “to heal.” The same Latin root underlies medical, medic, medicate, and remedial.
Related word forms
How medicine is actually used
The noun is formal and neutral in general, clinical, and academic contexts. As a verb, it is rare and archaic in modern English; the usual contemporary alternatives are medicate and treat.
Easily confused with medicine
Medicine is broader and can refer to the science of healing or to any therapeutic substance, whereas medication usually means a specific drug used to treat a condition.