Word
apothecary
Phoneticsapothe·cary
US/əˈpɑθəˌkɛɹi/
UK/ɐpˈɒθɪkəɹi/
Definitions
01a person who sells medicine
n. someone in the past who made and sold medicine and drugs.
n. a historical practitioner who prepared and sold medicinal drugs and compounds. The term is archaic in modern medical contexts but common in historical literature.
“In the story, the hero visits an apothecary to buy a sleeping potion.”
“The local apothecary was highly respected in the village for his knowledge of herbal remedies and chemical tinctures during the seventeenth century.”
Archaic · Formal
Usage
Usually refers to the person, but can occasionally refer to the shop itself in older texts.
Synonyms
02a shop for medicine
n. an old-fashioned shop where you could buy medicine.
n. a pharmacy or drugstore, specifically one from a historical or medieval period.
“The old apothecary on the corner had dusty jars filled with dried herbs.”
“The protagonist sought out a dimly lit apothecary in the narrow streets of London to procure the necessary ingredients for his experiment.”
Archaic · Literary
Etymology
From Old French apotecaire (whence French apothicaire), from Medieval Latin apothecarius (“storekeeper”), from Latin apotheca (“(originally) repository, storehouse, warehouse; (later) shop, store”), from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē, “a repository, storehouse”), from ἀπό (apó, “away”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put”), literally “a place where things are put away”. Doublet of boutique and bodega.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Idioms
talk like an apothecary — To prattle.