medicine man
19
7.4
- noun
- /ˈmɛdɪsɪn mæn/
:
chamán
- The medicine man used herbs and rituals to heal the villagers' ailments.
- medicine man and shamans
- traditional medicine man
- tribal medicine man
So they went and talked to the medicine man and the medicine man was really ill.
- So they went and talked to the medicine man and the medicine man was really ill.
- He said all medicine men live in caves.
- You can't just be a shaman, a medicine man, a wise man, and hold down a regular old job.
- So I so they did, they arranged for a ceremony for me and had the medicine man told all my relatives and everything.
Examples
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A Ute medicine man named Grant Bullethead brought this dance to his people.
Academic text (2016) -
Some of today's medicine men still claim to understand the language of certain animals.
Academic text (2001) -
And they asked this, this, this medicine man, which plants he used.
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I learned it from an old medicine man.
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We're gonna see the medicine man.
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So they went and talked to the medicine man and the medicine man was really ill.
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At the same time, the medicine men remained in charge of religious affairs.
Academic text (2000) -
He was a medicine man.
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He's the village medicine man and the closest thing I have to a father.
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During the healing ceremony, the medicine man literally removed the source of sickness that entered the body.
Academic text (2017)
Synonyms
101
3.9
A person who helps others get better from physical or mental sickness, often using traditional ways
18
8.2
A person in some cultures who uses rituals and plant medicines to heal people
A person who talks with spirits to heal people or tell the future
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is a direct noun+noun composition meaning 'a man who practices or uses medicine/healing,' so a B1 learner who knows 'medicine' and 'man' can infer it refers to a healer. Cultural and spiritual nuances (e.g. traditional Native American shamanic roles) may not be fully predictable, but the core meaning is compositionally transparent.
Etymology
Medicine man may come from early settlers who saw a tribal person using herbs, songs, and rituals to heal people. They called him a medicine man because he mixed physical cures and spiritual help, so today medicine man means a traditional 'healer' or 'shaman'.