Allopathic medicine

[9][10] The terms "allopathic medicine" and "allopathy" are drawn from the Greek prefix ἄλλος (állos), "other," "different" + the suffix πάθος (páthos), "suffering".

[11] The term allopath was used by Hahnemann and other early homeopaths to highlight the difference they perceived between homeopathy and the "conventional" heroic medicine of their time.

James Whorton discusses this historical pejorative usage: One form of verbal warfare used in retaliation by irregulars was the word "allopathy".

..."Allopathy" and "allopathic" were liberally employed as pejoratives by all irregular physicians of the nineteenth century, and the terms were considered highly offensive by those at whom they were directed.

[14]The controversy surrounding the term can be traced to its original usage during a heated 19th-century debate between practitioners of homeopathy and those they derisively referred to as "allopaths.

Hahnemann used this term to distinguish medicine as practiced in his time from his use of infinitesimally small (or nonexistent) doses of substances to treat the spiritual causes of illness.

The Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine states that "[Hahnemann] gave an all-embracing name to regular practice, calling it 'allopathy'.

[18][19] In India the term is used principally to distinguish "Western medicine" from Ayurveda, especially when comparing treatments and drugs.