empeirikos

Empeirikos is a Greek term (ἐμπειρικός) meaning empirical, experiential, or based on experience. It denotes knowledge derived from observation, experience, and practice rather than from theory alone. The root empeiria means experience, and the suffix -ikos marks a relation or quality, yielding the sense of “pertaining to experience.”

In classical contexts, empeirikos is used as both an adjective and a noun. In ancient Greek medicine, the term appears in reference to the Empiric school (empeirikoi), a medical sect that emphasized knowledge gained through experience with patients. Its adherents valued case-by-case observation and practical results, and they were skeptical of theories about hidden internal causes or speculative physiology. The Empirics contrasted with other schools that prioritized theoretical deduction, such as the Dogmatists or Rationalists, and with Methodists who sought a practical but more standardized set of guidelines.

In modern usage, empeirikos retains the general meaning of empirical. It is used in Greek to describe things rooted in experience and observation, and in English, the transliteration “empeirikos” is usually encountered only in historical or scholarly discussions about ancient Greek philosophy and medicine. The broader English equivalent is empirical, and related terms include empiricism and the empirical method, which emphasize evidence obtained through observation and experiment.

See also: empirical, empiricism, empirical method, Empiric school.