officinal

American  

[uh-fis-uh-nl] / əˈfɪs ə nl /

adjective

1. kept in stock by apothecaries, as a drug.

2. recognized by a pharmacopoeia.

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noun

1. an officinal medicine.

officinal British  

/ ɒˈfɪsɪnəl, ˌɒfɪˈsaɪnəl /

adjective

1. (of pharmaceutical products) available without prescription

2. (of a plant) having pharmacological properties

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noun

1. an officinal preparation or plant

Other Word Forms

• nonofficinal
  adjective
• officinally
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of officinal

1710–20; < Medieval Latin officīnālis of a store or workshop, equivalent to Latin officīn ( a ) workshop, presumably contraction of opificīna ( opific-, stem of opifex artisan, equivalent to opi-, combining form akin to opus work + -fic-, combining form of facere to make, do ¹ + -īna -ine ¹; cf. office) + -ālis -al ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

officinal

This resin is considered one of the most elegant aromatics of European growth, though little regarded in the present practice, and is rarely met with in prescription; neither does it enter any officinal composition.

From The Botanist's Companion, Volume II by William Salisbury

CARDAMOM, the fruit of several plants of the genera Elettaria and Amomum, belonging to the natural order Zingiberaceae, the principal of which is Elettaria Cardamomum, from which the true officinal or Malabar cardamom is derived.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 3 "Capefigue" to "Carneades" by Various

S. zeylanica, glabra, and perfoliata furnish sarsaparilla from Asia, and S. excelsa and aspera are used as substitutes for the officinal drug in Europe.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by P. L. Simmonds

June, July.—A well-known officinal anthelmintic, and a showy plant.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray

The officinal part is the bark, which comes off from the rhizomes.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by P. L. Simmonds

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