physic

American  

[fiz-ik] / ˈfɪz ɪk /

noun

• physics
  plural

1. a medicine that purges; cathartic; laxative.

2. any medicine; a drug or medicament.

3. Archaic. the medical art or profession.

4. Obsolete. natural science.

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verb (used with object)

• physics,
  present (3rd person singular)
• physicked,
  past participle,  past
• physicking
  present participle

1. to treat with or act upon as a physic or medicine.

2. to work upon as a medicine does; relieve or cure.

physic British  

/ ˈfɪzɪk /

noun

1. rare a medicine or drug, esp a cathartic or purge

2. archaic the art or skill of healing

3. an archaic term for physics

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verb

1. archaic (tr) to treat (a patient) with medicine

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• physicky
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• physics
  plural

Participles

• physicking
  present
• physicked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• physic
  simple
• physics
  simple
• have physicked
  perfect
• has physicked
  perfect
• am physicking
  progressive
• are physicking
  progressive
• is physicking
  progressive
• have been physicking
  perfect progressive
• has been physicking
  perfect progressive

Past

• physicked
  simple
• had physicked
  perfect
• was physicking
  progressive
• were physicking
  progressive
• had been physicking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will physic
  simple
• will have physicked
  perfect
• will be physicking
  progressive
• will have been physicking
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of physic

First recorded in 1250–1300; (for the noun) Middle English fisyk(e), phisik(e), from Old French fisique, from Latin physica “natural science” ( Medieval Latin: “medical science”), from Greek physikḗ “science of nature,” noun use of feminine form of physikós “pertaining to nature,” from phýs(is) physis + -ikos -ic; verb derivative of the noun

Explanation

These days, asking the pharmacist for a physic to relieve your constipation will probably get you a blank stare; it's an old-fashioned, rarely-used term for "laxative." Physic comes from the Latin word for "study of nature," so it's unclear how it came to mean a "purging medicine." An almost-synonym is "cathartic," although that word is usually used to describe an emotional purging- like a good cry- rather than physical one. Don't confuse physic with physics, the scientific study of the interaction between energy and matter, or psychic, someone who can read minds and see the future.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

physic physics physicked physicking

A spiritual adviser to Oprah Winfrey and purveyor of physic memorabilia online, Williamson spent about a year seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 27, 2023

Lord Sands in “Henry VIII”: ’Tis time to give ’em physic, their diseases are grown so catching.”

From Washington Post ● Apr. 16, 2020

Greenall’s Berkeley Square London Dry Gin summons, for him, “the atmosphere of an English physic garden in summer.”

From New York Times ● Dec. 11, 2012

His modest knowledge of physic was of assistance to the great Franklin, the great Linnaeus, and Catherine the Great, who conceived a dangerous gratitude for him after he removed her stone.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was nothing a good physic or a patent medicine wouldn’t take care of.

From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck

"Specifically, it's important to examine the physics taking place in solid nitrogen materials under stress and strain, which can cause them to melt. These processes have never been studied in real detail in the laboratory."

From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026

“We’re opening new offices. We’ve got lots of other plans across the region. Laws of physics of bricks and mortar will always mean it takes time.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Achieving that would require the physical AI foundation model to “understand the physics, kinematics, dynamics of the world really well,” Pathak said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026

The largest global survey of physicists ever conducted has revealed just how unsettled some of the biggest questions in modern physics remain.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026

The physics gets complicated, and some of it’s still classified, but the key point is that they figured out a way to ignite a fusion bomb using the X-rays produced by a fission blast.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

She was an agent for Morison's Pills—but having a fractious Scotch lodger that she couldn't get out, she physicked him so dreadfully that he nearly died, and the police took her licence away.

From Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities by Robert Smith Surtees

Being a capable needlewoman she soon had them apparelled more to her liking, and the labour physicked pain.

From Judith of the Cumberlands by Alice MacGowan

In this memorandum two indisputable items figured up over three hundred francs,—one for the doctor, the other for the apothecary who had attended and physicked Eponine and Azelma through two long illnesses.

From Les Misérables by Isabel Florence Hapgood

It fell away all at once, though no change was made in the diet; and yet we learn it has been physicked.

From The Dog by Dinks

I knew lords, and physicked them, too, when I was a blundering allopathist.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine No. XVI.?September, 1851?Vol. III. by Various

Talk's a brew   Mischievous, heady, easy raised, whose sting   Is ill to bear, and not by physicking   Voided.

From In a Green Shade A Country Commentary by Maurice Henry Hewlett

I could see her romping with them, helping them to tear their clothes; but likewise I could see her flying after them, bringing back an armful struggling, bathing it, physicking it.

From Paul Kelver, a Novel by Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome

I have here a word or two to say to a mother who is always physicking her family.

From Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children by Pye Henry Chavasse

The principal or almost only hope of cure consists in bleeding, physicking, and blistering on the right side.

From The Dog by William Youatt

This physicking was continued for two long, long days, and then I began slowly to recover.

From Visit to Iceland and the Scandinavian North by Ida Pfeiffer