Word.ws English Dictionary

doctrix

doctrix noun: a female doctor, chiefly a physician.

Noun (1)

doctrix (plural doctrices or doctrixes)

  1. (humorous, obsolete, rare) A female doctor, chiefly a physician.
    • Secondly, There is a Doctrix, concerning whom I will relate unto you these most certain stories.[…]A sickly Rustick came unto her, complaining of a pain in his neck, and betwixt his shoulders. She affirmed his disease to be the Ripples in his neck, and essayed to cure him thus;[…]A Rustick woman...1664, Matthew Mackaile, Moffet-Well, or, A Topographico-Spagyricall Description of the Minerall Wells, at Moffet in Annandale of Scotland, Edinburgh: […] Robert Brown, pages 173–174
    • One specialist asked her a grave question as to an eye case, another as to the brain, a third as to excision of the hip-joint, a fourth on tuberculosis, and so on. In ten minutes the doctrix had settled points that had taken those grave gray heads years to comprehend, and had fallen into as many...1878, Family Herald, page 412
    Synonyms:
    doctoress//doctress, Drss.
  2. (obsolete, rare) A female teacher.
    • Alice Driuer martyr. This was the doctrix of the forſaid weauer, who was ſo malepart and contumelious before the iudges, as firſt her eares were cutt of, for callinge Q. Mary Iezabell.1603, A Treatise of Three Conversions, page 11
    • […]—these are, therefore, advertising all who incline to be taught any manner of needle-work, washing, clear-starching, and many other parts of education, fit for accomplishing a gentlewoman, that they can have access to enter to the said Miss Eleanora Grant’s school in a fortnight hence, where...1750, “Eleanora Grant appointed by the Magistrates Schoolmistress of Aberdeen”, in Aberdeen Journal; republished as “Extracts from the Aberdeen Journal”, in Antiquarian Gleanings from Aberdeenshire...

Noun (2) capitalized: Doctrix

Doctrix (plural Doctrices or Doctrixes)

  1. (rare) The title of a female doctor, chiefly a physician.
    • Miss [Elizabeth] Blackwell had duly attended Lectures at the College, and received a formal diploma, under the title of “Domina,” which was the only feminine that the Senate could find for Doctor. […] For Doctrix Blackwell—that’s the way / To dub in rightful gender— / In her profession, ever may /...1849, “An M.D. in a Gown”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume XVI, London: […] Bradbury and Evans, […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 226, column 2
    • For I observe that at least two ladies (all honour and success to them, say I) have acquired the title of Doctor or Doctrix, and six more, I see, are at this moment engaged in dissecting the human subject at Edinburgh. […] Notoriously is this the case regarding the fair ‘Doctrixes,’ faith in whom...1875, Belgravia, volume 25, pages 478–479
    Synonyms:
    Drss.
  2. (rare, slang) A protagonist of the television series Doctor Who (called the Doctor) who is female.
    • > : Clavicle Squad deserve a mention, too.
      >
      > Oh? I'm partial to female clavicles.
      Then perhaps you can write stories about the Doctrixes... ;D1997 January 4, Allesandra I., “Dr Who paperbacks for sale”, in alt.drwho.creative (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026
    • The Infinity Doctor rolled his eyes. 'Honestly... You'd think no-one ever read the comic strip any more... The doll-Doctor-' (the giant grimaced at this, but said nothing.) '-appeared in Endgame. That's the _strip_ Endgame, not the book. Clear? The others have all appeared in The Glorious Dead....2000 July 26, I. Inayat, “[TTR]: Infinite Eights”, in alt.drwho.creative (Usenet), archived from the original on 04 Jan 2026

Examples of doctrix in a sentence

  • Secondly, There is a Doctrix, concerning whom I will relate unto you these most certain stories.[…]A sickly Rustick came unto her, complaining of a pain in his neck, and betwixt his shoulders.1664, Matthew Mackaile, Moffet-Well, or, A Topographico-Spagyricall Description of the Minerall Wells, at Moffet in Annandale of Scotland...
  • In ten minutes the doctrix had settled points that had taken those grave gray heads years to comprehend, and had fallen into as many pits.1878, Family Herald, page 412:
  • Other items in the account are payments made to the Doctrix of the school, drink-money for the tailor’s men, sequins for head-suits, and a “baberick” or baldric (i.e., a chain for the neck).1907, Blackwood's Magazine, volume 182, page 68:

Synonyms of doctrix

  • doctoress//doctress
  • Drss.

Forms of doctrix

pluraldoctrices
pluraldoctrixes
pluralDoctrices
pluralDoctrixes

Origin of doctrix

From Middle English doctrice, from Latin doctrīx (“a female teacher”), feminine form of doctor (“a teacher”). The "female physician" sense is from the English doctor (which is from the Latin doctor) medical sense, analyzed as a feminine form of the English word. By surface analysis, doc(tor) + -trix.

Learned borrowing from Latin doctrīx (“a female teacher”), the female equivalent of doctor, by analogy with English Doctor.

Questions about doctrix

What does doctrix mean?
Doctrix means a female doctor, chiefly a physician.
How do you use doctrix in a sentence?
Secondly, There is a Doctrix, concerning whom I will relate unto you these most certain stories.[…]A sickly Rustick came unto her, complaining of a pain in his neck, and betwixt his shoulders.
What part of speech is doctrix?
Doctrix is a noun.
What is the plural of doctrix?
The plural of doctrix is doctrices.

Words near doctrix in the dictionary

  1. doctrinization
  2. doctrinize
  3. doctrinized
  4. doctrinizes
  5. doctrinizing
  6. doctrix
  7. doctrixes
  8. doctype
  9. doctypes
  10. docu
  11. docu-drama

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: doctrix (page history and authors); Doctrix (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “doctrix.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/doctrix. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.