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Shaman vs Doctor - What's the difference?

shaman | doctor |

As nouns the difference between shaman and doctor

is that shaman is a traditional (prescientific) faith healer while doctor is a physician; a member of the medical profession; one who is trained and licensed to heal the sick. The final examination and qualification may award a doctor degree in which case the post-nominal letters are D.O., DPM, M.D., DMD, DDS, DPT, DC, in the US or MBBS in the UK.

As a verb doctor is

to act as a medical doctor to.

shaman

English

(wikipedia shaman)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A traditional (prescientific) faith healer.
  • A member of certain tribal societies who acts as a religious medium between the concrete and spirit worlds.
  • Usage notes

    * The plural form is (shamans), not shamen;1978', Carl B. Compton, ''The Interamerican'', volume 25, ?3] (Instituto Interamericano, Denton, Texas) We learn from our readers: We have been wrong in writing the word “'''shamen'''” as a plural for “shaman”. The word probably comes from Russian and there is no plural except that made by adding an ‘s’ — e.g. Shamans. the etymologically-consistent plural form from the original Evenki is (term),'''2003''', Howard Isaac Aronson, Dee Ann Holisky, and Kevin Tuite, ''Current Trends in Caucasian, East European, and Inner Asian Linguistics'' — “Dialect Continua in Tungusic: Plural Morphology”, [http://books.google.com/books?id=REPC96ddSc0C&pg=PA103&dq=shaman+plural&lr=&num=100&as_brr=0&ei=M6bZR8eDJtC4igHPzKnVAQ&sig=I8R0SWIUh1gFGJIDmQFnJ62qYXI page 103] ([http://www.benjamins.com/ John Benjamin’s Publishing Company]; ISBN 1588114619) we note here that ''-sal'' tends to exist only as a residual plural marker in -l/-r dialects. For example, in Standard Evenki, as in the Evenki dialects of the Amur basin and the Vivin dialect, use of ''-sal'' is limited to a small number of nouns (e.g. ''bajan'' “rich person”, pl. ''bajasal''; ''?ami:'', “female reindeer”, pl. ''?ami:sal'' or ''?ami:s?l''; ''a?lan'' “field”, pl. ''a?lasal''; ''sama:n'' “shaman”, pl. '''''sama:sal'''''). but this form sees no use in English; the plural form shamans is, however, universally accepted.'''2005''', Peter Metcalf, ''Anthropology: The Basics'', box 7.3: “Shamanism”, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=yAYaiGedL_4C&pg=PA132&dq=shamen+plural&ei=9kPRSKymHJ7QigGyztnmAw&sig=ACfU3U0e-abwShaVZyKNBbrSUNQ-aQ71Rw page 132] ([http://www.routledge.com/ Routledge; ISBN 0415331196) Note that the plural of shaman is ' shamans , not shamen.

    Derived terms

    * shamanism * shamanize * shamen (hypercorrect plural) * technoshaman

    Synonyms

    * (religious medium) priest-doctor, witch doctor

    References

    doctor

    English

    Alternative forms

    * doctour (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A physician; a member of the medical]] profession; one who is trained and licensed to heal the sick. The final examination and qualification may award a doctor degree in which case the post-nominal letters are , DMD, DDS, DPT, DC, in the US or MBBS in the UK.
  • If you still feel unwell tomorrow, see your doctor .
  • * Shakespeare
  • By medicine life may be prolonged, yet death / Will seize the doctor too.
  • A person who has attained a doctorate, such as a or one of many other terminal degrees conferred by a college or university.
  • A veterinarian; a medical practitioner who treats animals.
  • (A nickname for) a person who has special knowledge or talents to manipulate or arrange transactions.
  • (obsolete) A teacher; one skilled in a profession or a branch of knowledge; a learned man.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • one of the doctors of Italy, Nicholas Macciavel
  • (dated) Any mechanical contrivance intended to remedy a difficulty or serve some purpose in an exigency.
  • the doctor of a calico-printing machine, which is a knife to remove superfluous colouring matter
    the doctor , or auxiliary engine, also called "donkey engine"
  • * 2010 , Ramesh Bangia, Dictionary of Information Technology (page 172)
  • The use of a disk doctor may be the only way of recovering valuable data following a disk crash.
  • A fish, the friar skate.
  • Usage notes

    * Doctor is capitalized when used as a title: *: Doctor Smith

    Synonyms

    * (physician) doc (informal), family doctor, general practitioner, GP (UK), medic, physician, sawbones (slang), surgeon (who undertakes surgery ) * (veterinarian) vet, veterinarian, veterinary, veterinary surgeon

    Derived terms

    See also'' Types of academic doctor ''below * an apple a day keeps the doctor away * Angelic Doctor * barefoot doctor * the Cape Doctor * cleaning-doctor * color-doctor, colour-doctor * bedoctor * clown doctor * company doctor * couch doctor * dedoctor * doc * doctoral * doctor-assisted suicide * doctor blade * doctor-box * doctordom * doctoress, doctress * doctor-fish * doctor-gum * doctorhead, doctorhood * doctorish * doctorishness * doctorism * doctorise, doctorize * doctorless * doctorly * Doctor Martens * Doctor of Divinity * Doctor of Law * Doctor of Letters * Doctor of Philosophy * Doctor of Science * Doctor of the Chair * Doctor of Veterinary Medicine * Doctors' Commons * doctor's curse * doctor's gum * doctor-shears * doctorship * doctor's orders * the Doctors of the Church * doctorspeak * doctor's stuff, doctor-stuff * Dr, * family doctor * flying doctor * the Fremantle Doctor * herb doctor * horse-doctor * just what the doctor ordered, what the doctor ordered * lint-doctor * mad-doctor * paradoctor * quack doctor * rain-doctor * saw doctor * school doctor * snake doctor * spin doctor * under-doctor * underdoctored * under the doctor * undoctor * undoctored * water-doctor * witch doctor * woman doctor * you are the doctor, you're the doctor

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To act as a medical doctor to.
  • Her children doctored her back to health.
  • To make (someone) into an (academic) doctor; to confer a doctorate upon.
  • To physically alter (medically or surgically) a living being in order to change growth or behavior.
  • They doctored their apple trees by vigorous pruning, and now the dwarfed trees are easier to pick.
    We may legally doctor a pet to reduce its libido.
  • To genetically alter an extant species.
  • ''Mendel's discoveries showed how the evolution of a species may be doctored .
  • To alter or make obscure, as with the intention to deceive, especially a document.
  • To doctor the signature of an instrument with intent to defraud is an example of forgery.

    See also

    * doctorand * * surgeon

    Statistics

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