chemist

• chimist, chymist (obsolete)

First attested 1562, borrowed from French chimiste, from Medieval Latin chimista, from earlier alchimista (literally “alchemist”), from Arabic الْكِيمِيَاء (al-kīmiyāʔ), from article al- + Ancient Greek χυμεία (khumeía, “art of alloying metals”), from χύμα (khúma, “fluid”), from χυμός (khumós, “juice”), from χέω (khéō, “I pour”). As a synonym for pharmacy, a metonymous use of the proprietor to stand for their shop.

• enPR: kem'ĭst, IPA^(key): /ˈkɛmɪst/

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chemist (plural chemists)

1. A person who specializes in the science of chemistry, especially at a professional level.
   • 2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

     As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.

2. (chiefly British, Australia, New Zealand, Ghana) Synonym of pharmacist.
3. (chiefly British, Australia, New Zealand) Synonym of pharmacy, especially as a standalone shop or general store.
4. (obsolete) An alchemist.

• chemistry
• alchemist

• chimest, mitches