nonclinical
|non-clin-i-cal|
🇺🇸
/nɑnˈklɪnɪkəl/
🇬🇧
/nɒnˈklɪnɪkəl/
not related to clinical practice or clinical research
Etymology
'nonclinical' is formed from the prefix 'non-' meaning 'not' (a productive negative prefix in English) plus 'clinical', which comes from Greek 'klinikos' via Latin and means 'pertaining to a bed' or 'bedside'.
'clinical' derives from Greek 'klinikos' (from 'kline' meaning 'bed'), passed into Late Latin/Medieval Latin and then into Middle French/English as 'clinical'; the modern English compound 'nonclinical' arose by combining the negative prefix 'non-' with 'clinical' in recent English formations.
Originally 'klinikos' related to a bed or bedside care; over time it came to mean 'pertaining to medical practice or clinical observation'; 'nonclinical' developed to denote the opposite—not related to such clinical practice or human clinical research.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
not related to clinical practice, patient care, or activities carried out directly with patients (e.g., administrative or support roles).
Many hospitals employ nonclinical staff to handle billing and administration.
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Adjective 2
not pertaining to clinical trials or human clinical research; relating instead to laboratory, preclinical, or other non-human studies and data.
The company published nonclinical toxicity data before starting human trials.
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Last updated: 2026/01/06 22:23