English Explanatory Dictionary

geriatrics

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The branch of medicine that focuses on health promotion and the prevention and treatment of disease and disability in later life. The term itself can be distinguished from gerontology, which is the study of the aging process itself.
noun
  1. plural of geriatric

Word forms

geriatrics

Etymology

From Ancient Greek γῆρας (gêras, “old age”) (see γέρων (gérōn)) + ἰατρός (iatrós, “physician”); coined in English in 1909 by Ignatz L. Nascher in the New York Medical Journal on the model of pediatrics; correct formation would be gerontiatrics. Compare gerontology.

Derived words

ethnogeriatrics oncogeriatrics orthogeriatrics psychogeriatrics
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