apothecary

American  

[uh-poth-uh-ker-ee] / əˈpɒθ əˌkɛr i /

noun

plural

apothecaries

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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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; apo-, theca ) + -ārius -ary

Example Sentences

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

No-nonsense Maomao, a Tang Dynasty-era girl raised in a brothel who escapes servitude to parlay her apothecary skills in service of the palace, is one of the best female protagonists of all time.

From Salon • Dec. 19, 2025

“It’s like a little apothecary chest where there are all these different drawers in front of me that I can use,” Bates explains of her acting process.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 22, 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

In turn, she set up the apothecary I now use and fitted it with every tool of science known in France today.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein