When I was still teaching English, I asked my Koreans students to give me a synonym for the word DOCTOR. Immediately, they answered back, "Physician, surgeon." I told them, "Very Good! But, would you believe me if I say they are different from one another?" Then one of the students said, "Teacher, how can they be different if they are synonyms?
Quite funny! Well, do they really differ from one another? Let's try to find out.
Doctor is a title used for addressing medical doctors, dentists and people with Ph.D degrees in different subjects.
Physician is a formal word for a medical doctor.
Surgeon is a medical doctor who can operate on patients.
In other words, we call these individuals doctor in general. But a person who has a Ph.D degree is neither a physician nor a surgeon, unless of course he also has a degree in medicine. A surgeon is also a physician, but not all physicians are surgeons.
Have you seen their difference? I hope you learned something. See you again next time.
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