Prescription symbol

 

"The symbol "Rx" meaning "prescription" is a transliteration of a symbol resembling a capital R with a cross on the diagonal. There are various theories about the origin of this symbol - some note its similarity to the Eye of Horus. Others to the ancient symbol for Jupiter, both gods whose protection may have been sought in medical contexts. Alternatively, it may be intended as an abbreviation of the Latin "recipe", the imperative form of "recipere", "to take", and it is quite possible that more than one of these factors influenced its form. Literally, "Recipe" means simply "Take...." and when a doctor writes a prescription beginning with "Rx", he or she is completing the command. This was probably originally directed at the pharmacist who needed to take a certain amount of each ingredient to compound the medicine, rather than at the patient who must "take" the medicine, in the sense of consuming it. The word "prescription" can be decomposed into "pre" and "script" and literally means, "to write before" a drug can be prepared. Those within the industry will often call prescriptions simply "scripts"."