Pharma

How to spell pharma

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce pharma

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does pharma mean?

1. nounThe pharmaceutical industry, or companies that develop and manufacture medicines, considered collectively.

Pharma in a sentence

• She left academic research for a senior role in pharma.

• The report criticised big pharma for its pricing of essential drugs.

Where does pharma come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word is a modern clipping of pharmaceutical, which traces back to the Greek pharmakon, a word that meant 'drug', 'remedy', or even 'poison' depending on the context. From pharmakon the Greeks formed pharmakeutikos, describing the art of preparing and dispensing medicines, and this passed through Latin into the long technical English term pharmaceutical. The short, snappy form pharma emerged in business and journalism during the late twentieth century as a convenient label for the pharmaceutical industry as a whole, especially in phrases like 'Big Pharma'. It is worth noting that the original Greek root carried the double sense of cure and poison, a fitting ancestry for an industry built on potent compounds. The spelling keeps the 'ph' that signals its Greek origin, which is the main trap, since the word sounds as if it could begin with an 'f'.

How the word is built

• pharma (clipped form of pharmaceutical, from Greek pharmakon: drug, medicine)