Prescription: Definition, Usage, and Examples

Meaning 1：doctor's order for medicine (prescription)

prescription 🔊

/prɪˈskrɪpʃ(ə)n/

A piece of paper (or electronic note) from a doctor that allows you to get medicine from a pharmacy.

Prescription illustration showing a doctor's written order for medicine on a pharmacy counter.

doctor's order for medicine 🔊

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/dɑːktərz ɔːrdər fɔːr medɪsn/

A written or electronic instruction from a medical practitioner authorizing a patient to be issued with a specific medicine or treatment.

📁 Category：Diet & Health 🔖 Level：中级

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

From Latin 'prae-' (before) + 'scribere' (to write). Literally 'written beforehand'.

💡 Mnemonic

Think: A doctor's PREscription is a PRE-written note for medicine.

📖 Example

After the check-up, my grandma came home waving a piece of paper and said, "I got a new prescription for my blood pressure medicine!" 🔊 Following her medical appointment, my grandmother returned home enthusiastically holding a document, announcing she had received a new doctor's order for her hypertension medication.

🔗 Collocations

write a prescription – To formally issue a medical order for medication.

fill a prescription – To take a prescription to a pharmacy and obtain the medicine.

prescription drug – A medication that legally requires a doctor's authorization to obtain.

🔄 Synonyms

medication order (n.) – A more formal or clinical term for a doctor's instruction for medicine.

script (n.) – An informal abbreviation for a prescription, commonly used in medical settings.

Rx (n.) – A symbolic abbreviation for prescription, derived from the Latin 'recipere' (to take).

🌱 Derivatives

prescribe (v.) – To authorize the use of a medicine or treatment by issuing a prescription.

prescriptive (adj.) – Relating to the imposition or enforcement of a rule or method; laying down rules.

📖 Cultural Story

The term 'prescription' originates from Latin 'praescriptio', used in both legal and medical contexts to denote a written directive. Historically, medical prescriptions were orders written in Latin, establishing the doctor's authoritative instructions for the apothecary to compound specific medicines.