Meaning
In British English, chemist can mean a pharmacist, and chemist or chemist's can also mean the pharmacy or drugstore shop where medicines are prepared, dispensed, or sold.
How it is used
Cambridge Dictionary labels the medicine-professional and shop senses of chemist as UK English, contrasting them with US pharmacist and drugstore. Collins independently records the British shop and qualified-dispenser senses. Current NHS pharmacy listings in London also use Chemist in public-facing business names while categorizing those services as pharmacies, showing that the label remains visible in everyday use.
Examples
- “Is there a chemist near the station?”
- “I'll stop at the chemist's on the way back.”
- “The chemist said the prescription was ready to collect.”
Pronunciation
/ˈkem.ɪst/ · KEM-ist
Tone and register
Neutral and practical in British English. Chemist is not London slang, and pharmacy and pharmacist are also ordinary British terms.
Visitor guidance
Visitors can understand chemist or chemist's as referring to a pharmacy/drugstore shop, while chemist can also refer to the qualified medicine professional. Keep this regional sense separate from the unrelated meaning of a scientist who works in chemistry. For live opening hours, services, prescription rules, medicine availability, or healthcare advice, use current NHS or pharmacy information rather than relying on a language-reference entry.
Cultural context
Chemist is useful visitor vocabulary because British signs, business names, directions, and everyday speech can use chemist or chemist's where other English varieties may prefer pharmacy, drugstore, or pharmacist. The regional difference is lexical, not a claim that British pharmacies are a different kind of institution or that every speaker prefers the same word.
Places represented
Open the reviewed place guide for each regional sense carried by this canonical entry.