What is the meaning of Rx on doctors prescription?
The symbol “Rx” meaning “prescription” is a transliteration of a symbol resembling a capital R with a cross on the diagonal (℞). There are various theories about the origin of this symbol – some note its similarity to the Eye of Horus, others to the ancient symbol for Jupiter, both gods whose protection may have been sought in medical contexts. Alternatively, it may be intended as an abbreviation of the Latin “recipe”, the imperative form of “recipere”, “to take”, and it is quite possible that more than one of these factors influenced its form. Literally, “Recipe” means simply “Take….” and when a doctor writes a prescription beginning with “Rx”, he or she is completing the command. This was probably originally directed at the pharmacist who needed to take a certain amount of each ingredient to compound the medicine, rather than at the patient who must “take” the medicine, in the sense of consuming it.
The modern meaning of Rx is thus that only a certified physician may prescribe this medicine. Once again, we can blame Latin for a curious term. In English, “Rx” doesn’t seem to have any connection to “pharmacy.” However it does in Latin, albeit in a roundabout way. According to Yahoo! Reference, “Rx” means “prescription for medicine.” The letters abbreviate the Latin word recipe, which is a form of the verb “to take.” Doctors write Rx in the heading of prescriptions as an instruction to “take” the medicine. The pharmacists filling the orders understand this shorthand (and hopefully they can read the doctors’ handwriting) and print it on pill bottles with whatever else doctors order, such as “take twice daily with food.” Somewhere along the line, pharmacists started using “Rx” on their storefront signs so patients knew where to get their doctors’ instructions translated. Another possible meaning for “Rx” suggests that it’s a form of the astrological symbol for the Roman god Jupiter, wr
