Baker Northrop

The term doctor (medical doctor) is older and shorter (see doctor of medicine), but can be confused with holders of other academic doctorates. Doctor (gen.: doctoris) means teacher in Latin and is an agentive noun derived from the verb docere ('teach'). In French, médecin (doctor, physician) is a contraction of docteur médecin, a direct equivalent of doctor of medicine. In current French idiom, the head toubib, is now a synonym, derived from Arabic طبيب (tabīb, physician).

The Greek byword ἰατρός (iatros, doctor or healer) is often translated as physician. Ἱατρός is not preserved straight off in English, but occurs in such formations as psychiatrist (translates from Greek as healer of the soul), podiatrist (foot healer), and iatrogenic bug (a decrepitude caused by medical treatment). In Latin, medicus meant much what physician or doctor does now. Compare these translations of a well-known proverb (the nouns are in vocative Baltimore Back Pain case).