apothecary

American  

[uh-poth-uh-ker-ee] / əˈpɒθ əˌkɛr i /

noun

• apothecaries
  plural

1. a druggist; a pharmacist.

2. a pharmacy or drugstore.

3. (especially in England and Ireland) a druggist licensed to prescribe medicine.

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apothecary British  

/ əˈpɒθɪkərɪ /

noun

1. an archaic word for pharmacist

2. law a chemist licensed by the Society of Apothecaries of London to prescribe, prepare, and sell drugs

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• apothecaries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of apothecary

1325–75; Middle English (< Old French ) < Medieval Latin apothēcārius seller of spices and drugs, Late Latin: shopkeeper, equivalent to Latin apothēc ( a ) shop, storehouse (< Greek apothḗkē; see apo-, theca) + -ārius -ary

Explanation

Although the sign at the back of the shop in the old town square said apothecary, most people called the man behind the counter by his modern title, "pharmacist," instead. This five-syllable word, apothecary, which entered English in the 14th century, derives from the Latin apothēca, "storehouse." It became a title for the person who was skilled in preparing medicines. "Pharmacist" is a more common synonym for apothecary. Some contemporary companies and drugstore owners use the old-fashioned charm of the term apothecary to label products they sell.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

apothecary apothecaries

Instead of shelves of alcohol, apothecary drawers stocked with ingredients like goji berries and angelica root line the walls, permeating the room with their scent.

From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026

Not necessarily a designer one, but a handbag with a strong sense of itself — an acid-green baguette bag, a wicker orb with a padlock, a cheetah-print apothecary satchel.

From Salon ● Dec. 20, 2025

A few minutes later, I walked up the street to an herbal apothecary that offers rose quartz crystals alongside dropper-bottle tinctures labeled “Happiness.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2024

Paleontologists first discovered Gigantopithecus in the mid-1930s in a Hong Kong apothecary where the ape’s unusually large molars were being hawked as “dragon teeth.”

From New York Times ● Jan. 10, 2024

The dusty wagon was lined with shelves full of curious boxes and jars of a kind found in old apothecary shops.

From "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster

There are more than 50 Chinese herbal apothecaries in the Los Angeles area, according to Willie So, sales director of Chinatown-based Solstice Medicine, a leading distributor of traditional Chinese medicine products since 1979.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2024

The candy heart was born during the lozenge craze of the mid-1800s, when apothecaries sold medicated candies to soothe sore throats and suppress coughs.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 7, 2023

As Camper English explains in “Doctors and Distillers,” it did take a few centuries of scientific experimentation to move past those medieval apothecaries.

From New York Times ● Jul. 7, 2022

Many, in an homage to ancient apothecaries, are decorated with ceramic urns once used for herbal remedies.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 31, 2021

Midwives, nurses, dentists, barbers, apothecaries, wandering healers, quack physicians, and next-door neighbors offered opinions on the disease, too.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy