doctor

English Online Dictionary. What means doctor‎? What does doctor mean?

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/
• 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.
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.
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"
7. A fish, the friar skate.
8. (obsolete, nautical, slang) A ship's cook.

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

• docent
• doctorand
• doctorate
• doctrine
• doctrix

Descendants

Translations

See also

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.

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. [gives her lab coat to Finn] 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.

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

6. (transitive) To alter or make obscure, as with the intention to deceive, especially a document.
7. (transitive) To adulterate, drug, or poison (drink).
8. (intransitive, obsolete) To take medicine.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• surgeon

Asturian

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish doctor, compare native doutor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /doɡˈtoɾ/, [d̪oɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]

Noun

doctor m (plural doctores)

1. Alternative form of doutor

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin doctōrem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [dukˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [dokˈto]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [dokˈtoɾ]

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/
• 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 Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈdok.tor/, [ˈd̪ɔkt̪ɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈdok.tor/, [ˈd̪ɔkt̪or]

Noun

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

1. teacher, instructor
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^[2], 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/

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/ [d̪oɣ̞ˈt̪oɾ]
• 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 [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28