therapy

Where does the word "therapy" come from? It comes from Greek therapeia, passing through Modern Latin before entering English (1840s).

Therapy’s story begins in Greek: therapeia meant “care, healing.” Service, care, healing, from 'therapeuein', to attend or treat. By 1600s, the word had taken hold in Modern Latin as therapia. A medical term for treatment. It reached English by 1840s as therapy. Its everyday sense of talking treatment, short for 'psychotherapy', spread in the 1900s. Today, therapy means treatment intended to heal a disorder.

1. Stage 1 · Greek · ancient therapeia "care, healing", service, care, healing, from 'therapeuein', to attend or treat.
2. Stage 2 · Modern Latin · 1600s therapia "treatment", a medical term for treatment.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1840s therapy "treatment", its everyday sense of talking treatment, short for 'psychotherapy', spread in the 1900s.