Wiktionary

chemist

English

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Chemist in a white lab coat

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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First attested 1562, borrowed from French chimiste, from Medieval Latin chimista, from earlier alchimista (literally “alchemist”), from Arabic الْكِيمِيَاء (al-kīmiyāʔ), from article al- + Ancient Greek χυμεία (khumeía, “art of alloying metals”), from χύμα (khúma, “fluid”), from χυμός (khumós, “juice”), from χέω (khéō, “I pour”). As a synonym for pharmacy, a metonymous use of the proprietor to stand for their shop.

Pronunciation

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  • enPR: kem'ĭst, IPA(key): /ˈkɛmɪst/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (UK):(file)

Noun

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chemist (plural chemists)

  1. A person who specializes in the science of chemistry, especially at a professional level.
    • 1988, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 3, in The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 60:
      It was Oxford now—the matriculation photograph, posed in the stony front quad at Corpus, the pelican on top of the sundial appearing to sit on the head of the lanky, begowned chemist at the centre of the back row.
    • 2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
      As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.
  2. (chiefly British, Australia, New Zealand, Ghana) Synonym of pharmacist.
  3. (chiefly British, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) Synonym of pharmacy, especially as a standalone shop or general store.
  4. (obsolete) An alchemist.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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