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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

doctor.

A physician; a member of the medical profession; one who is trained and licensed to heal the sick or injured. The final examination and qualification may award a doctor degree in which case the post-nominal letters are DO, DPM, MD, DMD, or DDS in the US, or MBBS or BDS in the UK.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈdɒktə(ɹ)/Received-Pronunciation/ˈdɑktɚ/General-American/ˈdɔktə/Australia, New-Zealand/ˈdɒktə/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. A physician; a member of the medical profession; one who is trained and licensed to heal the sick or injured. The final examination and qualification may award a doctor degree in which case the post-nominal letters are DO, DPM, MD, DMD, or DDS in the US, or MBBS or BDS in the UK.

    If you still feel unwell tomorrow, see your doctor.
  2. A person who has attained a doctorate, such as a Ph.D. or Th.D. or one of many other terminal degrees conferred by a college or university.

  3. A veterinarian; a medical practitioner who treats non-human animals.

  4. A nickname for a person who has special knowledge or talents to manipulate or arrange transactions.

  5. A teacher; one skilled in a profession or a branch of knowledge; a learned man.

    obsolete
  6. Any mechanical contrivance intended to remedy a difficulty or serve some purpose in an exigency.

    dated
  7. A fish, the friar skate.

  8. A witch doctor.

    obsolete
  9. A ship's cook.

    obsolete · slang
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *doḱ-éye-ti Proto-Italic *dokejō Proto-Italic *dokeō Ancient Greek διδάσκω (didáskō)sl. Latin doceō Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Proto-Italic *-tōr Latin -tor Latin doctorbor. Old French doctur Anglo-Norman doctourder. Middle English doctour English doctor From Middle English doctor, doctour (“an expert, authority on a subject”), from Anglo-Norman doctour, from Latin doctor (“teacher”), from doceō (“to teach”). Displaced native Middle English lerare (“doctor, teacher”) (from Middle English leren (“to teach, instruct”) from Old English lǣran, lēran (“to teach, instruct, guide”), compare Old English lārēow (“teacher, master”)). Displaced Old English lǣċe (“doctor, physician”).

verb/ˈdɒktə(ɹ)/Received-Pronunciation/ˈdɑktɚ/General-American/ˈdɔktə/Australia, New-Zealand/ˈdɒktə/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. To act as a medical doctor to.

    transitive
    Her children doctored her back to health.
  2. To act as a medical doctor.

    humorous · intransitive
  3. To make (someone) into an (academic) doctor; to confer a doctorate upon.

    transitive
  4. To physically alter (medically or surgically) a living being in order to change growth or behavior.

    transitive
    They doctored their apple trees by vigorous pruning, and now the dwarfed trees are easier to pick.
    We may legally doctor a pet to reduce its libido.
  5. To genetically alter an extant species.

    transitive
    Mendel's discoveries showed how the evolution of a species may be doctored.
  6. To alter or make obscure, as with the intention to deceive, especially a document.

    figuratively · transitive
    To doctor the signature of an instrument with intent to defraud is an example of forgery.
  7. To adulterate, drug, or poison (drink).

    transitive
  8. To take medicine.

    intransitive · obsolete
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *doḱ-éye-ti Proto-Italic *dokejō Proto-Italic *dokeō Ancient Greek διδάσκω (didáskō)sl. Latin doceō Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Proto-Italic *-tōr Latin -tor Latin doctorbor. Old French doctur Anglo-Norman doctourder. Middle English doctour English doctor From Middle English doctor, doctour (“an expert, authority on a subject”), from Anglo-Norman doctour, from Latin doctor (“teacher”), from doceō (“to teach”). Displaced native Middle English lerare (“doctor, teacher”) (from Middle English leren (“to teach, instruct”) from Old English lǣran, lēran (“to teach, instruct, guide”), compare Old English lārēow (“teacher, master”)). Displaced Old English lǣċe (“doctor, physician”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.