placebo

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun an innocuous or inert medication; given as a pacifier or to the control group in experiments on the efficacy of a drug
  2. noun (Roman Catholic Church) vespers of the office for the dead

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English placebo, borrowed from Latin placēbō (“I will please”), the first-person singular future active indicative of placeō (“to please”).

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