doctor

English

Alternative forms

• doctour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English doctor (“an expert, authority on a subject”), doctour, from Anglo-Norman doctour, from Latin doctor (“teacher”), from doceō (“I teach”). Displaced native Middle English lerare (“doctor, teacher”) (from Middle English leren (“to teach, instruct”) from Old English lǣran, lēran (“to teach, instruct, guide”), compare Old English lārēow (“teacher, master”)). Displaced Old English lǣċe (“doctor, physician”), and doublet of docent.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɒktə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑktɚ/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔktə/, /ˈdɒktə/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒktə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: doc‧tor

Noun

doctor (plural doctors)

1. A physician; a member of the medical profession; one who is trained and licensed to heal the sick or injured. The final examination and qualification may award a doctor degree in which case the post-nominal letters are D.O., DPM, M.D., DMD, DDS, in the US or MBBS in the UK.

   If you still feel unwell tomorrow, see your doctor.

   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     By medicine life may be prolonged, yet death / Will seize the doctor too.

2. A person who has attained a doctorate, such as a Ph.D. or Th.D. or one of many other terminal degrees conferred by a college or university.
3. A veterinarian; a medical practitioner who treats non-human animals.
4. A nickname for a person who has special knowledge or talents to manipulate or arrange transactions.
5. (obsolete) A teacher; one skilled in a profession or a branch of knowledge; a learned man.
   • 1552, Hughe Latymer [i.e., Hugh Latimer], Augustine Bernher, compiler, “”, in Certayn Godly Sermons, Made uppon the Lords Prayer, , London: John Day, , published 1562, →OCLC, folio 5, verso:

     So from that tyme forwarde I began to ſmell the word of god, and forſoke the ſchole doctors and ſuch foolries.

   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature”, in The Essayes , 3rd edition, London: Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     one of the doctors of Italy, Nicholas Macciavel

6. (dated) Any mechanical contrivance intended to remedy a difficulty or serve some purpose in an exigency.

   the doctor of a calico-printing machine, which is a knife to remove superfluous colouring matter

   the doctor, or auxiliary engine, also called "donkey engine"

   • 2010, Ramesh Bangia, Dictionary of Information Technology, page 172:

     The use of a disk doctor may be the only way of recovering valuable data following a disk crash.

7. A fish, the friar skate.
8. (obsolete, nautical, slang) A ship's cook.
   • 1844, William Robert Wilde, Narrative of a Voyage to Madeira, Teneriffe and Along the Shores of the Mediterranean, page 124:

     […] old Scotch Jem the boatswain, tunes his fiddle, and the doctor, (ship's cook,) produces his tambourine; the men dance on deck, […]

   • 1881, The United Service, volume 5, page 212:

     His galley is small, and, microscopic as it is, it is shared by his brother in misery, the ship's cook, he whom the crew familiarly know as the “Doctor.”

Usage notes

• Doctor is capitalized when used as a title:

  Doctor Smith

• In the UK and Commonwealth (except Canada), a surgeon (including a dental or veterinary surgeon) is commonly addressed as Mr./Ms./Mrs. rather than Doctor.

Synonyms

• (physician): doc (informal), family doctor, general practitioner, GP (UK), medic, physician, sawbones (slang), surgeon (who undertakes surgery); see also Thesaurus:physician
• (veterinarian): vet, veterinarian, veterinary, veterinary surgeon

Derived terms

See also Types of academic doctor below

Related terms

• doctorate
• doctrine
• doctrix

Descendants

Translations

Verb

doctor (third-person singular simple present doctors, present participle doctoring, simple past and past participle doctored)

1. (transitive) To act as a medical doctor to.

   Her children doctored her back to health.

2. (intransitive, humorous) To act as a medical doctor.
   • 2017, "Do No Harm", season 8, episode 2 of Adventure Time

     Doctor Princess: Put this on. OK, you're a doctor now. Good luck.

     Finn: Wait, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! I don't know how to doctor!

3. (transitive) To make (someone) into an (academic) doctor; to confer a doctorate upon.
4. (transitive) To physically alter (medically or surgically) a living being in order to change growth or behavior.

   They doctored their apple trees by vigorous pruning, and now the dwarfed trees are easier to pick.

   We may legally doctor a pet to reduce its libido.

5. (transitive) To genetically alter an extant species.

   Mendel's discoveries showed how the evolution of a species may be doctored.

6. (transitive) To alter or make obscure, as with the intention to deceive, especially a document.

   To doctor the signature of an instrument with intent to defraud is an example of forgery.

   • 2024 March 11, Mark Landler, Lauren Leatherby, “Princess of Wales Apologizes, Saying She Edited Image”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     Catherine, the Princess of Wales, apologized on Monday for doctoring a photo of her with her three children, which was recalled by several news agencies on Sunday after they determined the image had been manipulated.

7. (transitive) To adulterate, drug, or poison (drink).
8. (intransitive, obsolete) To take medicine.

Translations

See also

• doctorand
• Wikipedia article on doctorates
• surgeon

Asturian

Noun

doctor m (plural doctores)

1. doctor (person who has attained a doctorate)

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin doctōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Noun

doctor m (plural doctors, feminine doctora)

1. doctor

Related terms

• doctoral
• doctorat

Further reading

• “doctor” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “doctor”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “doctor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “doctor” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch doctor, from Latin doctor (“teacher, instructor”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɔk.tɔr/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: doc‧tor
• Rhymes: -ɔktɔr

Noun

doctor m (plural doctoren or doctors, diminutive doctortje n)

1. doctor (person who has attained a doctorate)

Synonyms

• dr.

Related terms

• doctorandus

Descendants

• Afrikaans: doktor
• → Indonesian: doktor

See also

• dokter

Latin

Etymology

From doceō (“I teach”) +‎ -tor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈdok.tor/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈdok.tor/,

Noun

doctor m (genitive doctōris, feminine doctrīx or doctorissa); third declension

1. teacher, instructor
   • c. 99 BCE – 55 BCE, Lucretius, De rerum natura 5.1310–1312:

     et validos partim prae se misere leones
     cum doctoribus armatis saevisque magistris
     qui moderarier his possent vinclisque tenere,

     and some let out before them strong lions,
     with armed trainers and fierce masters
     to manage them and hold them in restraints,

2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) catechist, Doctor of the Church

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Derived terms

• doctōrō (Mediaeval)
• doctrīna

Related terms

Descendants

Borrowed terms

References

• “doctor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “doctor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• doctor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• doctor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• doctor in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Romanian

Alternative forms

• doftor — popular
• доктор (doctor) — post-1930s Cyrillic spelling

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin doctor (17th c.), via French docteur or German Doktor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdok.tor/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

doctor m (plural doctori, feminine equivalent doctoriță or (nonstandard) doctoră)

1. doctor

Declension

See also

• medic

Spanish

Alternative forms

• Dr., dostor, dotor

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin doctor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /doɡˈtoɾ/

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: doc‧tor

Noun

doctor m (plural doctores, feminine doctora, feminine plural doctoras)

1. doctor (Ph.D.)
2. physician

   Synonym: médico

Related terms

Descendants

• → Tagalog: doktor
• → Yaqui: takter

Further reading

• “doctor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014