médical

Médical is a French adjective meaning related to medicine or the medical field. It is used to describe things connected with health care, diagnosis, treatment, and medical science. Common compounds include matériel médical (medical equipment), centre médical (medical center), and recherche médicale (medical research).

Origin and usage: the word derives from Latin medicalis, from medicus (physician) and medicina, and entered French in the medieval period. Today it is a standard part of the medical vocabulary, applied to institutions, activities, and objects within health care and life sciences.

Distinctions and related terms: assez often confused with terms that have related but distinct meanings. Médicament refers to a drug or pharmaceutical product, médecine is the discipline of medicine, and médecin is a physician. Phrases such as domaine médical, personnel médical, and sécurité médicale illustrate how médical functions as an attributive adjective to describe sectors, staff, or safety within health care.

Usage context: in French, médical is widely used in formal, technical, and administrative contexts, including education, regulation, hospitals, clinics, and research settings. In English, the direct cognate is medical, but care should be taken not to use médical as a noun or to replace terms like médecin or médecine.