theriaca
theriaca is the alternative spelling of theriac.
Meaning of theriac
Noun
theriac (countable and uncountable, plural theriacs)
- A universal antidote against all poisons, particularly medicines considered to derive from a recipe of the Roman physician Andromachus and representing an improvement on mithridate.
- This excellent triacle Methridatum is nexte in qualitye and virtue to Theriaca... but onely Theriaca is a little hotter and stronger againste venyme of Snakes.1558, William Bullein, The Government of Health, fol. 120
- A hyponym of panacea.
- Synonym of antidote, particularly (pseudoscience) those incorporating snakemeat to cure snakebite.
- ...ane half vnce of guid auld theriac...1568, Gilbert Skeyne, chapter 7, in Ane Breue Descriptioun of the Pest
- Synonyms:
- antidote, particularly
- Synonym of molasses.
- Synonyms:
- molasses
Forms of theriaca
| plural | theriacas |
|---|---|
| plural | theriacae |
Origin of theriaca
From Late Latin theriaca, from Ancient Greek θηριακή (thēriakḗ, “of or related to poisonous reptiles”), from θηρίον (thēríon, “little beast”) + -κός (-kós), from θήρ (thḗr, “beast”) + -ίον (-íon, diminutive suffix). Doublet of theriac; compare treacle.
Questions about theriaca
- What is theriaca the alternative spelling of?
- Theriaca is the alternative spelling of theriac.
Words near theriaca in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: theriaca (page history and authors); theriac (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.
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Cite this entry: “theriaca.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/theriaca. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.