Other forms: pharmacies
A pharmacy is the shop where medicines are prepared and sold. The hospital pharmacy, collect it from the pharmacy, a late-night pharmacy.
In Britain the everyday word is chemist and in America drugstore, and the green cross is the standard sign across Europe. A pharmacy is also the department inside a hospital and the university subject: study pharmacy. The pharmacist is the qualified professional, who can advise on medicines and is often the most accessible health professional there is. Note prescription and over the counter, the two ways medicine is supplied.
1nounpharmacyA shop or department where medicines are prepared and sold.
“The pharmacy stays open until midnight.”
synonyms: chemist, drugstore
2nounstudyThe study and practice of preparing medicines.
“She studied pharmacy for four years.”
pharmacy is a shop or field of study.
Also accepted in games: chemist, drugstore
Greek pharmakeia meant the use of drugs, from pharmakon — a word that meant both a remedy and a poison, depending entirely on the dose. That double meaning is arguably the oldest and truest piece of pharmacology in the language.
Ancient Greek
φαρμακεία — the use of drugs
Medieval Latin
pharmacia
Old French
farmacie
Middle French
pharmacie — the art of creating drugs; a drug, especially a laxative
Middle English
pharmacy
English, today
pharmacy
Built from
From Middle English pharmacy, borrowed from Middle French pharmacie (“the art of creating drugs; a drug, especially a laxative”), from Old French farmacie, from Medieval Latin pharmacia, from Ancient Greek φαρμακεία (“the use of drugs”), from φάρμακον (“a drug, charm, enchantment”), of uncertain but likely qsb-grc - origin. Attested since late 14th century.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA