cheirourgos

Cheirourgos is a term from ancient and modern Greek used to denote a surgeon. The word comes from the Greek kheir (hand) and ergon (work), literally meaning “one who works with the hand.” In Classical Greek medical language it referred to a practitioner who performed manual medical operations, i.e., surgery. The modern Greek word cheirourgos (cheirourgós) retains this meaning.

The form cheirourgos gave rise to the Latin chirurgus, from which the English words chirurgy, chirurgeon, and surgeon are derived. In antiquity, cheirourgoi were specialists who carried out operative procedures within the broader field of medicine; their work complemented physicians who diagnosed and prescribed treatment. They practiced techniques appropriate to their time, such as wound care, bone setting, and other manual interventions.

In contemporary usage, the term is largely historical in English, while in Modern Greek χειρουργός (cheirourgós) simply means “surgeon.” In English-language scholarship, cheirourgos is primarily encountered in philological or historical discussions of Greek medicine and the etymology of surgical terms. The related Greek terms cheirourgia (surgery) and cheirourgikos (surgical) reflect the linguistic lineage that links ancient Greek practice to later Latin and English terminology.