Etymology

placebo

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Today it means: A dummy medicine containing no active ingredients; an inert treatment. Full definition →

First used 18th c.Middle English placebo ← Latin placēbō
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The story

  1. Latin · borrowed fromplacēbō“I will please”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromplacebo
  3. English todayplacebo

Inherited from Middle English placebo, borrowed from Latin placēbō (“I will please”), the first-person singular future active indicative of placeō (“to please”).

First known use, by meaning

  • from 18th c. A dummy medicine containing no active ingredients; an inert treatment.
  • from 13th c. The vespers sung in the office for the dead.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.