Allopathist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A medical professional who employs treatments designed to produce effects opposing the symptoms or illnesses treated
2. A healthcare provider that utilizes methods counteracting the body's natural healing processes to address various ailments
3. A practitioner in medicine that applies therapies aimed at producing effects that conflict with the symptoms or conditions being treated

Etymology: Allopathy was coined by Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, in the early 1800s to describe the conventional medicine of his day. He combined the Greek "allos" ("other") with "pathos" ("suffering" or "disease"), so the term means something like "treatment by the opposite." Hahnemann used it dismissively, to paint orthodox doctors as applying remedies that worked against the body's symptoms rather than with them. The word "allopathist" is simply the agent form built from "allopathy" plus the suffix "-ist," which marks a person who practises or follows something. The suffix passes through a long chain: it descends from the Greek "-istēs," reached Latin as "-ista," then Old French "-iste," and entered Middle English as "-ist." Because the suffix is so productive, English speakers could attach it to almost any system of belief or practice, and "allopathist" followed naturally once "allopathy" existed.