Latin Terms And Abbreviations Commonly Used In Prescription Writing

What is a Prescription?
Prescription is a written order from a registered medical practitioner, or other properly licensed practitioners, such as dentist, veterinarian etc. to a pharmacist to compound and dispense a specific medication for the patient.

Prescription is a media through which treatment is provided for a patient by the combined skill and services of both the physician and the Pharmacist.

The prescriptions are generally written in English language but Latin words and abbreviations are frequently used in order to save time. So it becomes necessary for a pharmacist, to become familiar with the common Latin terms and abbreviations used by the prescriber while writing the prescription.

Latin Term	Abbreviation	Meaning in English
Kinds Of The Preparation
Auristille	auristill	Ear drops
Capsula	caps	A capsule
Cataplasma	cataplasm	A poultice
Charta	chart	A powder
Collutorium	collut	A mouthwash
Collyrium	collyr	An eye wash
Cremor	crem	A cream
Emulsio	emul	An emulsion
Haustous	ht	A drought
Injectis	inj	An injection
Insufflatio	insuff	An insufflation
Linctus	lin	A linctus
Linimentum	lin	A liniment
Liquor	liq	A solution
Lotio	lot	A lotion
Mistura	m, mist	A mistura
Naristillae	narist	Nasal drops
Nebula	neb	A spray solution
Pasta	past	A paste
Pitula	pil	A pill
Pulvis	pulv	Powder
Solutio	sol	A solution
Suppositorium	suppos	A suppository
Tabella	tab	A tablet
Unguentum	ung	An ointment
Method of administration or application
Addendus	addend	To be added
Applicandus	applicand	To be applied
Applicat	applicat	let (him) apply
Capiendus	capiend	To be taken
Dandus	dand	to be given
Deglutiendus	deglut	To be swallowed
Infricandus	infricand	To be subbed in
Inhaletur	inhal	Let (it) be inhaled
Miscendus	miscend	To be mixed
Signa	sin	Label
Sumendus	S, sum	To be taken
Utendus	U, utend	To be used
Time of administration
Semel in die	sem in die	Once a day
Bis in die, bis die	b.i.d, b.d.	Twice a day
Ter in die	t.i.d., t.d.	Three times a day
Quarter in die	q.i.d., q.d.	For times a day
Sexies in die	sex.i.d.	Six times a day
Primo mane	prim. m	Early in the morning
Mane	m	In the morning
Omni mane	o.m.	every morning
Omni nocte	o.n.	Every night
Inter nocte, Inter noctem	inter nocte	During the night
Nocte	n	At night
Jentaculum	jentac	Breakfast
Nocte et mane	n.et.m	Night and morning
Nocte maneque	n.m.	Night and morning
Omni hora	o.h.	every hour
Omni quarta hora	o.q.h.	every fourth hour
Singulis horis	sing. hora	Every hour
Alternis horis	alt. hor.	Every two hours
Tertis horis	tert. hor.	Every three hours
Quartis horis	quart. hor.	Every four hours
Sextis horis	sext. hor.	Every six hours
Anti cibos	a.c.	before meals
Post cibos	p.c.	after meals
Inter cibos	i.c.	Between meals
Dolore urgente	dol.urg.	when the pain is severe
Frequenter	freq	Frequently
Lente	lente	slowly
More dicto, Mode dicto	m.d.	As directed
Si opus sit	s.o.s.	when required or when necessary
Statim	stat.	Immediately
Tussi urgent	tuss. urg.	When the cough is troublesome
Vehicle used and means of application
Cochleare magnum	coch mag	One tablespoonful
Cochleare amplum	coch amp	One tablespoonful
Cochleare maximum	coch max	One tablespoonful
Cochleare medium	coch. med.	One dessertspoonful
Cochleare minimum	coch. min.	One teaspoonful
Cum	c	with
cum duplo	c. dup.	With twice as much
Cum parte aequale	c. pt. aeq.	with and equal quantity
Cum tanto	c. tant	with as much
Cyathus amplus	cyath. amp.	A tumbler
Cyathus magnus	cyath. mag.	A tumbler
Cyathus vinosus	cyath. vin.	A wine glass
E.lacte	e. lact.	with milk
Ex.aqua	ex. aq.	With water
Latin terms for parts of the body
Auris dexter	a.d.	To right ear
Auris laevus	a.l.	To left ear
Brachis	brach.	To the body
Jugulo	jug.	To the throat
Naso	naso	to the nose
Oculis dexter	o.d.	To right eye
Oculis laevus	o.l.	To left eye
Os, oris	o.s.	to mouth
Pro oculus	pro. ocul.	For the Eyes
Sterno	stern	To the chest
More latin terms
Ad	ad.	To, uto
Ana	aa	of each
Ante	a	before
Aqua	aq	Water
Aqua distillata	aq. dest.	Distilled water
Cibos	cibos	meals, food
Fiat	ft.	Make, let it be made
Gutta, guttae	gtt.	A drop, drops
Hora	h	an hour
Laevo	l	Left
Misce	m	mix, let it be mixed
Mitte	mitt.	Send
Mitte tales	mitt tal	send such
More dicto	m. dict.	In the manner prescribed
Omni	omn	every
Pro dosi		As a dose
Quantum sufficiat	q.s.	as much as sufficient
Recipe	Rx	Take
Semi	ss	Half
Solve		dissolve
Talis, tales	tal	such
Latin terms for Numerals
Latin Term	Roman Symbol	Meaning in English
Unus	I	One
Duo	II	Two
Tres	III	Three
Quatuor	IV	Four
Quinque	V	Five
Sex	VI	Six
Septem	VII	Seven
Octe	VIII	Eight
Novem	IX	Nine
Decem	X	Ten
Undecim	XI	eleven
Duodecim	XII	Twelve
Quantuordecim	XIV	Fourteen
Quindecim	XV	Fifteen
Viginti	XX	Twenty
Quinguaginta	L	Fifty
Centum	C	One Hundred