infirmary

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a room, ward, or clinic within an institution where sick or injured people receive care

   The injured prisoner spent the night in the infirmary.

2. 2
   noun

   a small hospital, especially one attached to a school, prison, monastery, or other institution

   The old workhouse infirmary later became a community hospital.

Borrowed from Medieval Latin infirmaria, 'a place for the sick,' from Latin infirmus, 'weak or ill.' Infirmus combines in-, 'not,' with firmus, 'strong or firm.' The word first named the sickroom of a religious house and broadened to similar facilities in other institutions.

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