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infirmary

UK/ɪnˈfɝməɹi/US/ɪnˈfɝməɹi/
nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #4,856 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: infirmaries

An infirmary is a place where the sick are cared for. The school infirmary, the royal infirmary, taken to the infirmary.

Many British hospitals still carry the name, which is why the Leeds and Manchester ones are called infirmaries. In a school or a prison it is the sick bay rather than a hospital.

Richard Webb · CC BY-SA 2.0

Definitions of infirmary

  1. 1nouninfirmaryA place where the sick are cared for.B2+

    “The old soldier was cared for in the prison infirmary until he recovered.”

infirmary is a place.

Where it comes from

Medieval Latin infirmaria comes from infirmus, weak or infirm.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *dʰer-

  2. Latin

    infirmus

  3. Medieval Latin

    infirmaria

  4. English, today

    infirmary

From Medieval Latin infirmaria, from Latin infirmus.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

infirmary in the wild

  • The infirmary is the largest of the three Leicester hospitals managed by the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.

    Leicester Royal Infirmary

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.