Learn English – Word for someone preferring homeopathic treatments to western medicine

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Similar to an anti-vaccinationist, I'm looking for a word that means someone who prefers homeopathic treatments instead of prescription drugs or refuses (or even simply distrusts) medical treatment altogether possibly for religious or personal beliefs. This may or may not be hypernymic to anti-vaccinationist.

I realize this question could attract terms that could be considered derogatory, but hopefully there's a term that isn't.

Example sentence:

  • The Simpsons episode "Brother's Little Helper" shows certain cynicism for prescription drugs as opposed to homeopathic alternatives, the writers may be ________.

Best Answer

Homeopathyphile or homeopathophile, a neologism, alas

homeopathy, definition from Merriam-Webster

a system of medical practice that treats a disease especially by the administration of minute doses of a remedy that would in larger amounts produce in healthy persons symptoms similar to those of the disease

homeopathy etymology, from Etomonline

1830, from German Homöopathie, coined 1824 by German physician Samuel Friedrich Hahnemann (1755-1843) from Greek homoios "like, similar, of the same kind" (see homeo-) + -patheia "disease," also "feeling, emotion" (see -pathy). Greek homoiopathes meant "having like feelings or affections, sympathetic."

We all know that -phile is Greek (see Dictionary.com):

a combining form meaning “lover of,” “enthusiast for” that specified by the initial element: [example] Anglophile

Thus, we get homeopathyphile, which, when entered into the Oxford English Dictionary, returns:

No dictionary entries found for ‘homeopathyphile’

Nor does the OED recognize homeopathophile.

Searching further, I found a reference on Twitter:

A patient was blown away by what a homeopathic remedy could do...And so, a homeopathyphile was born

The OP hoped there was a term that was not derogatory, and I manufactured one for him with three Greek roots -- impeccable etymology. Maybe it will emerge from the twitterverse into mainstream English.

Addendum: Thanks to @Peter A. Schneider for the alternate homeopathophile.

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