English
placebo
Placebo comes from Latin placēbō ‘I will please’, and goes back to placeō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplaceō‘to please’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEplacēbō‘I will please’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500placebo‘Talk for buttering someone up, making them sycophantic or pleasing them’
- Englishearliest quotation 2010same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplaceō‘to please’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEplacēbō‘I will please’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500placebo‘Talk for buttering someone up, making them sycophantic or pleasing them’
- Englishearliest quotation 2010same form
Earliest quotation: 2010, Edzard Ernst, No to homeopathy placebo: “The acid test, I thought, was whether homeopathic remedies…”
Linked words
through Latin placeō ‘to please’
Today it means
noun A dummy medicine containing no active ingredients; an inert treatment.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin placeō / placebo