placebo

Etymology

From Latin placēbō (“I will please”), the first-person singular future active indicative of placeō (“I please”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pləˈsiːbəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /pləˈsiboʊ/
• Rhymes: -iːbəʊ

Noun

placebo (plural placebos or placeboes)

1. (medicine) A dummy medicine containing no active ingredients; an inert treatment. [from 18th c.]
   • 2010, Edzard Ernst, The Guardian, 22 Feb 2010:

     The acid test, I thought, was whether homeopathic remedies behave differently from placebos when submitted to clinical trials.

2. (Roman Catholicism) The vespers sung in the office for the dead. [from 13th c.]
   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 349:

     There the placebo, the office for the dead, was sung, and a vigil kept throughout the night.

Anagrams

• Obecalp

Etymology

From Latin

Noun

placebo m (plural placebos)

1. placebo

Further reading

• “placebo” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Etymology

From Latin

Noun

placebo m (invariable)

1. (pharmacology, figuratively) placebo

Verb

placēbō

1. first-person singular future active indicative of placeō

References

• placebo in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)

Noun

placebo m (plural placebos)

1. (medicine) placebo (a dummy medicine containing no active ingredients)

Etymology

From Latin

Noun

placebo m (plural placebos)

1. placebo