Medical

How to spell medical

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce medical

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does medical mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to the science or practice of medicine, or to the treatment of illness and injury.
2. nounAn examination by a doctor to assess a person's state of health, often required for a job or insurance.

Medical in a sentence

• adjective

  The clinic keeps detailed medical records for every patient.

• noun

  The new pilot had to pass a full medical before starting work.

• adjective

  Her insurance covers most medical expenses.

• noun

  His employer arranged a routine medical for all staff.

Where does medical come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin medicus, meaning 'physician' or 'healer', which itself grew from the verb mederi, 'to heal' or 'to look after'. From medicus came the Late Latin adjective medicalis, used for anything 'relating to a doctor or to healing', and English adopted this as 'medical' in the early 1600s. The same mederi root produced a whole family of related English words, including 'medicine', 'medicate', and 'remedy', and it is even distantly linked to 'meditate', since both ideas involve careful, measured attention. Because the word is built so cleanly on medic- plus -al, the spelling rarely surprises adults; the only mild trap is the unstressed middle vowel, which sounds like a soft 'i' but is spelled with an 'i' in 'medic'.

How the word is built

• medic- (from Latin medicus: physician, healer)
• -al (adjective suffix)