Panacea- Daily Word №11
Pancreas? No no no…
Today’s word is panacea, which has many meanings under its belt. The simplest one is an all-healing remedy, but it can also refer to the solution that will solve all the branches of one question.
It also refers to a plant.
Let me explain:
Looking Deeper
Simply put, panacea comes from the same ‘panacea’ in Latin, which came from the Ancient Greek word πανάκεια (or ‘panákeia’). Still with me? Cool!
The word’s greek root is made of two sections: ‘παν’ which means ‘all’, and ‘ἄκος’ ‘cure’. So we get ‘all-cure’ a remedy believed to cure every disaster in the body. Along the way, it also picked up the definition of ‘solution to all problems’.
One day, an old healer guy probably stumbled across a poor Punella plant and tasted it for herbal usage. Fortunately for the doctor, the strange plant cured his headache, and so the plant became widely used to cure everything serious enough to be annoying but not too threatening. And so the poor terrorized plant got a name: panacea — The Healall.
Using ‘panacea’ in a Sentence
panacea can replace many words, including solvent, solution, remedy, medicine, cure. But don’t use it to replace actual medications, or your doctor will have a very bad time…
“Communication is the panacea of any conflict.”
Ok, to panacea’s defence, it’s still used in academic papers and university lectures to make the speaker sound professional. But the plant side of it is gone completely, become obsolete. But perhaps this word will go in a downward slide just like some previous others…
I know I might not be much, but I hope to bring these words back to our use again. By sharing one word a day, maybe we still have a shot at saving them
