Meaning & use
apothecary
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableold-fashioned
A person in earlier times who mixed and sold medicines and often gave basic medical advice.
Grammar: Has a plural: the village apothecaries.
Patterns
- an apothecary's shop
The town apothecary ground herbs into a powder for the fever.
Medieval apothecaries kept spices and drugs in jars with Latin labels.
Her great-grandfather worked as an apothecary in Edinburgh.
nouncountableold-fashioned
A shop or store where medicines and remedies are prepared and sold, now often a themed store name.
Grammar: Often used in shop names: Green Leaf Apothecary.
Patterns
- an apothecary on the corner
We bought lavender oil from a little apothecary near the market.
The new apothecary sells natural soaps and herbal teas.
In the story, the hero buys a potion from a dusty apothecary.
Word forms
| plural | apothecaries |
|---|
Common combinations
- apothecary shop
- The apothecary shop smelled of mint and camphor.
- apothecary jar
- She stores sugar in an old apothecary jar.
- local apothecary
- The local apothecary knew every family in the village.
- apothecary's scales
- He weighed the powder on apothecary's scales.
- medieval apothecary
- A medieval apothecary used herbs and minerals as remedies.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pharmacist
- Pharmacist is the modern professional term, while apothecary is historical or decorative.
- druggist
- Druggist is an older American word for a pharmacist, less quaint than apothecary.
- chemist
- Chemist in British English means a pharmacist or a drugstore, unlike the old-world apothecary.
- herbalist
- An herbalist works only with plant remedies, whereas an apothecary mixed many ingredients.
Word family
- apothecaries noun
- plural of apothecary
- apothecary's weight noun
- an old system of measuring medicine
- pharmacy noun
- a modern place for medicines
- pharmacist noun
- a trained person who dispenses medicine
Commonly confused: apothecary or apothecary vs. apostle? apothecary or apothecary vs. apothem?
apothecary vs apothecary vs. apostle
The first letters are alike, but an apostle is a religious follower, not a medicine seller.
apothecary vs apothecary vs. apothem
An apothem is a geometry term for a line in a regular polygon; it has no connection to medicine.
Practice
In the 1600s, a sick villager would probably buy a remedy from the local ___.
Choose one answer.
An apothecary prepared and sold medicine. The others are professionals who do not deal with remedies.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “apothecary”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.