Sport & ContestGreek → English
Physiotherapy
/ˌfɪzioʊˈθɛrəpi/noun
Treatment of injury and disability through exercise, manipulation and movement rather than drugs or surgery.
The Greek roots
φύσις
phýsis
nature
θεραπεία
therapeía
treatment, attendance
Literally: “treatment by natural means”
The story of the word
The compound sets φύσις, nature, against the alternatives, meaning treatment by natural means instead of the knife or the pharmacy. Θεραπεία in Greek first meant waiting on someone and attending to them; a θεράπων was a companion and servant, and Patroclus is one to Achilles. The word appears in English early in the twentieth century, in step with the rehabilitation of soldiers and polio patients. American practice mostly says physical therapy.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- early 20th century
Same family
therapyphysicschemotherapyphysique
In a sentence
Six weeks of physiotherapy got the shoulder back to full rotation.