Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Homeopathy
/ˌhoʊmiˈɒpəθi/noun
A system of alternative treatment based on giving extremely dilute preparations of substances that would cause the patient's symptoms in a healthy person.
The Greek roots
ὅμοιος
hómoios
like, similar
πάθος
páthos
suffering, affliction
Literally: “similar suffering”
The story of the word
Samuel Hahnemann built the word in German around 1807 to carry his rule that like cures like: a remedy is chosen because it provokes a suffering similar to the disease. He needed a name for everyone else's medicine too, so he coined allopathy, 'other suffering', which conventional doctors have been stuck with ever since. English picked both up in the 1820s.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → German coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1820s
Same family
allopathyhomogeneouspathologysympathy
In a sentence
The pharmacy keeps homeopathy on a separate shelf from the licensed medicines.