Etymology

doctor

doc·tor
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Today it means: 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 DO, DPM, MD, DMD, or DDS in the US, or MBBS or BDS in the UK. Full definition →

Middle English doctour ← Anglo-Norman doctour ← Old French doctur
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doctor · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*deḱ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*doḱ-éye-ti
  3. Proto-Italic*dokejō
  4. Proto-Italic*dokeō
  5. Ancient Greekδιδάσκω (didáskō)
  6. Latindoceō
  7. Latindoctor
  8. Old Frenchdoctur
  9. Anglo-Normandoctour
  10. Middle Englishdoctour
  11. English todaydoctor

From Middle English doctor, doctour (“an expert, authority on a subject”), from Anglo-Norman doctour, from Latin doctor (“teacher”), from doceō (“to 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”).

DOCTOR · phrase2

A backronym from the word doctor.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.