physic

Physic is an old-fashioned word for medicine, particularly a purgative or laxative meant to cleanse the body.

The term reflects an era when medical treatment often involved expelling harmful substances through purging.

As a verb, to physic someone is to administer medicine to them, especially a cathartic.

The word survives mainly in historical contexts and in the related term physician, which originally meant one who practices physic.