pharmaceutics
English
Etymology
From pharmaceutic + -s; see -ics.[1]
Noun
pharmaceutics (uncountable)
- The art and science of dispensing medical drugs.
- Hyponym: pharmacology
- (plurale tantum) medicines, drugs, or other pharmaceutical compounds.
- 2002, Michel Faber, The Crimson Petal and the White, Canongate Books (2010), page 631:
- ‘One day, I expect pharmaceutics will offer a cure for even the severest mental illnesses.’
Usage notes
Pharmacology is the science of dispensing medical drugs, whereas pharmaceutics also encompasses the non-scientific aspects such as how to make medications more palatable, where raw materials may be obtained, etc.
Translations
pharmacy — see pharmacy
References
- ^ “pharmaceutics, n.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.