Fisike

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for a medicine or remedy taken to cure illness ; the art and profession of treating disease and injury
2. An old word for a drug or healing preparation given to a sick person ; the practice of healing the body and treating sickness
3. A medicinal remedy in earlier English usage ; the science and profession of medical treatment and healing

Etymology: Medieval English spelled this word "fisike", a form of "physic", and it once covered nearly all of what we now call natural science. It came through Old French "fisique" from Latin "physica", which took it from Greek "physikē", meaning knowledge of nature. That Greek word derives from "physis", "nature", itself from a verb meaning to grow or arise. The narrowing happened because medicine was the most practical branch of natural knowledge. Physicians studied the body as part of the natural world, so the word gradually came to mean the healing art alone. A practitioner was a "physician", and a dose of medicine was "physic". The old phrase "to take one's physic", meaning to endure an unpleasant but necessary treatment, preserves that sense. The broader meaning was carried on by "physics", which shares the same Greek root and kept the study of nature.