# panacea
## English
### Alternative forms

* panacaea
* panacæa

### Etymology

From Latin panacēa, from Ancient Greek πανάκεια (panákeia), from πανακής (panakḗs, “all-healing”), from πᾶν (pân, “all”) (equivalent to English pan-) + ἄκος (ákos, “cure”).

### Pronunciation

* enPR: păn'-ə-sēʹ-ə, IPA: /ˌpæn.əˈsiː.ə/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -iːə

### Noun

panacea (plural panaceas or panaceae or panaceæ)
* A remedy believed to cure all disease and prolong life that was originally sought by alchemists; a cure-all.
    Synonym: heal-all
* A solution to all problems.
    A monorail will be a panacea for our traffic woes.
** 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXVII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 53:When busy he was better, and appeared to think perpetual motion a panacea for his unnamed and un-nameable complaint; and so much were they hurried from place to place, after their arrival at Genoa, that both sisters were thankful when they embarked again, as the sea appeared a resting-place...
** 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 206:Podson was seated on the bed, going through such turf forecasts as he could find in the papers; his panacea for correcting the mistakes of fortune.
** 2023 January 11, “Network News: MPs seek clarity on hydrogen's role”, in RAIL, number 974, page 13:Hydrogen is not a panacea for reaching the zero net emissions target by 2050, but it can grow to become "a big niche" fuel in particular sectors and applications, claims a new report.
* (obsolete) The plant allheal (Valeriana officinalis), believed to cure all ills.
** 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:There, whether it diuine Tobacco were, / Or Panachæa, or Polygony, / She found, and brought it to her patient deare […]

#### Synonyms

* (remedy to cure all disease): catholicon, cure-all, elixir, wonder drug, miracle cure, theriac, balm of Gilead
* (solution to all problems): miracle, magic bullet, silver bullet
* (plant): allheal, woundwort

#### Hyponyms

* (remedy to cure all disease): See mithridate and theriac (universal antidotes)

#### Translations
### See also

* nostrum

## Catalan
### Etymology

From Learned borrowing from Latin panacēa, from Ancient Greek πανάκεια (panákeia), from πανακής (panakḗs, “all-healing”), from πᾶν (pân, “all”) + ἄκος (ákos, “cure”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [pə.nəˈse.ə]
* IPA: (Valencia) [pa.naˈse.a]

### Noun

panacea f (plural panacees)
* panacea

### Further reading

* “panacea” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

## Italian
### Etymology

From Latin panacēa, from Ancient Greek πανάκεια (panákeia), from πανακής (panakḗs, “all-healing”), from πᾶν (pân, “all”) + ἄκος (ákos, “cure”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pa.naˈt͡ʃɛ.a/
* Rhymes: -ɛa
* Hyphenation: pa‧na‧cè‧a

### Noun

panacea f (plural panacee)
* panacea, cure-all

## Latin
### Etymology

From Ancient Greek πανάκεια (panákeia) from πανακής (panakḗs, “all-healing”), from πᾶν (pân, “all”) + ἄκος (ákos, “cure”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /pa.naˈkeː.a/, [pänäˈkeːä]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /pa.naˈt͡ʃe.a/, [pänäˈt͡ʃɛːä]

### Noun

panacēa f (genitive panacēae); first declension
* A particular kind of plant, believed to cure all diseases.
* panacea, catholicon.

#### Declension

First-declension noun.

#### Derived terms

* panacinus

#### Descendants

* Catalan: panacea
* English: panacea
* French: panacée
* Italian: panacea
* Portuguese: panaceia
* Spanish: panacea

### References

* “panacea”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “panacea”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* panacea in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* “panacea”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

## Spanish
### Etymology

From Latin panacēa, Ancient Greek πανάκεια (panákeia), from πανακής (panakḗs, “all-healing”), from πᾶν (pân, “all”) + ἄκος (ákos, “cure”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Spain) /panaˈθea/ [pa.naˈθe.a]
* IPA: (Latin America, Philippines) /panaˈsea/ [pa.naˈse.a]
* Rhymes: -ea
* Syllabification: pa‧na‧ce‧a

### Noun

panacea f (plural panaceas)
* panacea

### Further reading

* “panacea”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10