Etymology

chemotherapy

C3H4E1M3O1T1H4E1R1A1P3Y4

Today it means: Any chemical treatment intended to be therapeutic with respect to a disease state. Full definition →

English therapy ← New Latin therapīa ← Ancient Greek θεραπεία (therapeía)
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰew-
  2. Ancient Greekχῠ́μᾰ (khŭ́mă)
  3. Ancient Greekχυμείᾱ (khumeíā)
  4. Arabicالْكِيمِيَاء (al-kīmiyāʔ)
  5. Medieval Latinalchēmia
  6. Ancient Greekχυμείᾱ (khumeíā)influ.
  7. New Latinchēmīa
  8. Englishchemo-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*treb-der.?
  10. Ancient Greekθερᾰ́πων (therắpōn)
  11. Ancient Greekθεραπεύω (therapeúō)
  12. Ancient Greekθεραπεία (therapeía)
  13. New Latintherapīa
  14. Englishtherapy
  15. English todaychemotherapy

From chemo- + therapy.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.