Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Pediatrics
/ˌpiːdiˈætrɪks/noun
The branch of medicine concerned with children and their diseases.
The Greek roots
παῖς, παιδός
paîs, paidós
child
ἰατρός
iatrós
physician, healer
Literally: “child healing”
The story of the word
Coined in the second half of the nineteenth century, when childhood illness was first treated as its own field rather than a small version of adult medicine. Ἰατρός gives psychiatry and geriatrics the same ending. Παῖς is the root behind pedagogy, and behind the pedant, who was once simply a schoolmaster.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
pediatricianpedagogypsychiatrygeriatrics
In a sentence
She switched from surgery to pediatrics after her second rotation.