Ante cibum
“Before food.”
Medical Latin
What does “Ante cibum” mean?
Ante cibum translates as “Before food.”
A medical instruction to take a medicine before meals. It survives on prescriptions as the abbreviation "a.c."
The story behind it
Latin was long the language of pharmacy, and abbreviations like this remain in use in prescriptions.
How to use “Ante cibum”
Useful on a pharmacy study card or a medical student’s reference sheet.
- Latin
- Ante cibum
- English
- Before food.
- Source
- Medical Latin
- Era
- Modern Latin
- Theme
- Health
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