the.com/druggist
The old word for pharmacist, back when the job sounded more dangerous than it was.
means A person who prepares and sells medicinal drugs — the older, blunter word for what we now call a pharmacist.
from Built from 'drug' plus the agent suffix '-ist,' it entered English through French 'droguiste.' 'Drug' itself traces back to Old French 'drogue,' whose deeper roots are murky — possibly linked to Middle Dutch 'droge-vate,' literally 'dry vats,' referring to how dried herbs and goods were stored and traded. 'Druggist' rose alongside the apothecary trade as a plainer, more commercial term — less Latin mystique, more shopkeeper practicality — before 'pharmacist' eventually took over as the respectable, clinical-sounding successor.
- origin
- from drug plus the French-style suffix iste
- now
- largely replaced by pharmacist in modern usage
- era
- peaked in American English 19th to early 20th century
- vibe
- sounds like someone who also sells you a horse