Bonesetters

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Practitioners who traditionally reset fractured or dislocated bones back into their proper position without formal medical training
2. People who specialize in realigning broken limbs and joints, often working outside the formal medical profession
3. Those who manipulate and set broken bones so that they heal correctly, historically as folk healers or traditional practitioners

Etymology: "Bonesetters" is the plural of "bonesetter," a compound of "bone" and "setter." The first element is the Old English "ban," which gave modern "bone" and has meant the same hard tissue of the skeleton throughout the history of English. The second element comes from "set," in its older sense of putting something back into position, as in setting a broken limb so it can heal straight, and the agent suffix "-er" turns the action into a person who does it. A bonesetter, then, is someone who reduces fractures and dislocations by hand, a role that long existed outside formal medicine. The compound shows its job plainly: the practitioner is named for the act of setting bones, not for any training or license. That practical transparency is typical of English trade names of this kind, which describe what the worker physically does.

Synonyms: osteopath, chiropractor