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

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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

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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

Respectable practitioners of physic thought him brilliantly mad, philosophers thought him brilliantly sane.

From Time Magazine Archive

Phusis became the source of physic, which at first meant natural science and later was the word for medicine.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

She is reconsidering her future in light of the physics cuts.

From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026

"The problems are shared between various European countries," insisted one protester, Filippos Armen, a physics student at Thessaloniki's Aristotle University.

From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2026

“Put it this way, we’ve gone from being the most attractive person in the physics department to being the captain of the football team,” CEO Alex Karp said on the call.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026

It did so as it announced cuts to several other particle physics and astronomy projects, including Jodrell Bank's iconic Lovell telescope.

From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026

His response was a lecture attacking Aristotle’s account of falling bodies, the weakest point in his physics.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Say”––his eyes wandered to where his carefully written regulations were posted, “talkin’ o’ baths, have you physicked the kids right?”

From The Twins of Suffering Creek by Ridgwell Cullum

He physicked indiscriminately, or bled or starved his patients, without paying the slightest regard to their ailments.

From Peter the Whaler by Henry Austin

With despair in his heart he still wrote on, simply because the labour in which he had delight physicked the pains of impecuniosity.

From Curiosities of Impecuniosity by H. G. Somerville

Confound you, do you think I want to be physicked?

From Varney the Vampire Or the Feast of Blood by Thomas Preskett Prest

She had been petted, and physicked, and nursed, after the manner of only children, and grew up sickly as a matter of course.

From Trevlyn Hold by Mrs. Henry Wood

At the date to which I am referring, some forty years ago, there was a great taste in many private families for immoderate physicking.

From The Gentleman Cadet His Career and Adventures at the Royal Military Academy Woolwich by A.W. Drayson

Last Monday he told me that more physicking was no good, and that I had better be off here, and see what exercise and the fresh air of the moors would do for me.

From Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley — Volume 2 by Thomas Henry Huxley

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

I will next speak about those other four subjects which Scrofa outlined, namely: the feeding, breeding, raising and physicking of sheep.

From Roman Farm Management The Treatises of Cato and Varro by Fairfax Harrison

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

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