medicine · doctor

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 医 relates to doctors and medicine; its on-reading is い.
• Basic usage: 医者, read いしゃ, means doctor; 歯医者, read はいしゃ, can mean a dentist or a dental clinic.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Person and place of treatment
  • 歯医者になりたい means wanting to become a dentist. 歯医者を予約した occurs in the context of booking a dental appointment.
• Separating the readings
  • In 歯医者, the initial 歯 is read は and the following 医者 is read いしゃ.