Physician

A physician is a person trained in the art of healing.

In reality, contemporary physicians express their skills by combining art with science.

A physician is also referred to as a doctor of medicine.

The term 'physician' is used somewhat differently in different English-speaking countries.

For example, in the UK a physician is a specialist in internal or general medicine while in the USA it is a more general term for a doctor of medicine.

The word 'physician' entered Middle English in the 13th century as 'fisicien' from the Old French 'fisique' meaning medicine.

Curiously, English today is the only language in which 'physician' has a medical meaning.

In French, a physician ('physicien') refers to a physicist, as it does in all other tongues that possess the term.