Some common epithets of Apollo as a healer are "paion" (παιών, literally "healer" or "helper") "epikourios" (ἐπικουρώ, "help"), "oulios" (οὐλή, "healed wound", also a "scar" ) and "loimios" (λοιμός, "plague"). In classical times, his strong function in popular religion was to keep away evil, and was therefore called "apotropaios" (ἀποτρέπω, "divert", "deter", "avert") and "alexikakos" (from v. ἀλέξω + n. κακόν, "defend from evil"). In later writers, the word, usually spelled "Paean", becomes a mere epithet of Apollo in his capacity as a god of healing.