Hippocrates

American  

[hi-pok-ruh-teez] / hɪˈpɒk rəˌtiz /

noun

1. Father of Medicine, c460–c377 b.c., Greek physician.

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Hippocrates British  

/ hɪˈpɒkrəˌtiːz /

noun

1. ?460–?377 _bc , Greek physician, commonly regarded as the father of medicine

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Hippocrates Scientific  

/ hĭ-pŏk′rə-tēz′ /

1. Greek physician who is credited with establishing the foundations of scientific medicine. He and his followers worked to distinguish medicine from superstition and magic beliefs by basing their treatment of illness on close observation and rational deduction.

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Hippocrates Cultural  

1. An ancient Greek physician (the “father of medicine”) who is credited with founding the study of medicine.

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Other Word Forms

• Hippocratic adjective
• Hippocratical adjective

Example Sentences

The Greek medical tradition, starting with Hippocrates, tried to make sickness a secular matter.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

For centuries, scientists have noticed that certain illnesses seem to pass from one generation to the next, a connection first noted by Hippocrates, who observed that some diseases "ran in families."

From Science Daily • Oct. 18, 2025

Hippocrates even wrote about castoreum’s healing properties of castoreum in 500 B.C.

From National Geographic • Nov. 15, 2023

Apothecaries in the Middle Ages sold it, Hippocrates prescribed it and the physician-philosopher Ibn-Sīnā extolled its virtues.

From Scientific American • Oct. 1, 2023

About the same time, on the nearby island of Cos, Hippocrates was establishing his famous medical tradition, now barely remembered because of the Hippocratic oath.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan