iatrogenic
/aɪˌætɹəˈd͡ʒɛnɪk/adjective
iatrogenic is an adjective meaning “Induced by the words or actions of the physician or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedure” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled I-A-T-R-O-G-E-N-I-C, and it appears about once in every 11 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does iatrogenic mean?
adjective
- 1
Induced by the words or actions of the physician or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedure.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce iatrogenic?
- /aɪˌætɹəˈd͡ʒɛnɪk/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-iatrogenic.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of iatrogenic
- more iatrogenic comparative
- most iatrogenic superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is iatrogenic?
Iatrogenic appears about once in every 11 million words in written English, the 101,613th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Iatrogenic in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense induced by physician or medical treatment:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | iatrogène, iatrogénique |
| German | iatrogen, iatrogenisch, durch ärztliche Behandlung verursacht |
| Portuguese | iatrogénico, iatrogênico |
| Spanish | iatrogénico |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does iatrogenic come from?
From iatro- + -genic.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).