placebo
UK /pləˈsiː.bəʊ/ · US /pləˈsi.boʊ/ noun
Forms placebos placeboes
- noun (medicine) A dummy medicine containing no active ingredients; an inert treatment.
- noun (Roman Catholicism) The vespers sung in the office for the dead.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English placebo, borrowed from Latin placēbō (“I will please”), the first-person singular future active indicative of placeō (“to please”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The first antiphon of the vespers for the dead.
- noun A prescription intended to humor or satisfy. To sing placebo, to agree with one in his opinion; to be complaisant to. Chaucer.
Etymology [L., I shall please, fut. of placere to please.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “placebo”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details