ophthalmic

English

Alternative forms

• ophthalmick (obsolete)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ophthalmicus, from Ancient Greek ὀφθᾰλμῐκός (ophthalmikós, “of or for the eyes”), from ὀφθᾰλμός (ophthalmós, “eye”) +‎ -ῐκός (-ikós, “-ic”, adjectival suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɒfˈθal.mɪk/, /ɒpˈθal.mɪk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɑfˈθæl.mɪk/, /ɑpˈθæl.mɪk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ælmɪk

Adjective

ophthalmic (not comparable)

1. (medicine) Of or pertaining to the eyes.

   Eyedrops are an ophthalmic solution.

   • 1853 September 17, “Metropolitan Hospitals & Medical Schools”, in The Lancet, volume 62, number 1568, →DOI, page 268:

     The ophthalmic surgeon attends Tuesdays and Saturdays, at half-past one.

2. Visionary, looking to the future.
   • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter X, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 161:

     Yet I do not call to mind that I was ever in my earlier youth the subject of remark in our social family circle, but some large-handed person took some such ophthalmic steps to patronise me.

   • 2000, David Pierce, Irish Writing in the Twentieth Century: A Reader, →ISBN, page 516:

     If Jack Yeats has made this ophthalmic adjustment, and if W.B. never really was so foolish as to look things between the eyes (until the Revolution grimaced at him), have the realistic novelists of our time been wise in their insistence on ruthless close-ups?

   • 2013, David Oliver Relin, Second Suns: Two Doctors and Their Amazing Quest to Restore Sight and Save Lives, →ISBN:

     To Dechen Wangmo, and all the fiercely dedicated ophthalmic staff of Bhutan, my gratitude for your hospitality and patience with a foreigner's curiosity about your customs.

Derived terms

• anophthalmic
• exophthalmic
• hygrophthalmic
• interophthalmic
• intraophthalmic
• monophthalmic
• nonophthalmic
• ophthalmic acid
• ophthalmically
• ophthalmic artery
• ophthalmic nerve
• ophthalmics
• paraophthalmic
• preophthalmic

 

Related terms

• ophthalmo-, ophthalm-
• ophthalmology
• ophthalmologist
• ophthalmoscope

Translations

of or pertaining to the eyes

• Bulgarian: очен (očen)
• Catalan: oftàlmic
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 眼的 (zh) (yǎn de)

• French: ophtalmique (fr)
• Galician: oftálmico
• Italian: oftalmico (it)
• Occitan: oftalmic
• Portuguese: oftálmico (pt)
• Spanish: oftálmico

References

• “ophthalmic”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “ophthalmic”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.