pharmacy

Word family

• pharmacist
  nounB2
• pharmaceutical
  adjectiveC1
• pharmacology
  nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Pharmacy is the safest general word in modern English for a place where people get medicines. In American English, drugstore often overlaps with it, but a drugstore usually suggests a bigger shop that may also sell snacks, soap, or cards. In British English, chemist's is a very common everyday word for the local shop where you collect prescriptions. Dispensary is more formal and often points to a place inside a hospital, clinic, or charity service rather than a neighborhood shop. Keep pharmacy for the academic field too, but use pharmacist for the person. You might say, 'I need to stop at the pharmacy for antibiotics,' but in London someone may say, 'I'm going to the chemist's.'

Etymology

Pharmacy came into English through French and Latin from Greek pharmakeia, a word connected with the use and preparation of drugs or medicines. In early English use, it referred to the work of preparing and supplying medicines. Later, it also came to mean the place where people go to get them, which explains why the word now names both a field of study and a shop or hospital department.