Clinic - Iin

Japanese: 医院 - いいん

〘 noun 〙 A place where illnesses are examined and treated. It is run by a doctor personally and is smaller in scale than a hospital. Clinic. ※Umoregi (1892)〈Higuchi Ichiyo〉5 "On the surface of the stake that was pushed up, the site for the building of the Hakuai Hospital was written in black ink." [Etymology] (1) Originally an abbreviation of "Taiiin", it was introduced from a Chinese book on Western studies as a new word that expresses the concept of hospital along with "hospital". At the end of the Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji period, "hospital" was becoming established, but at the opinion of Sato Naonaka, who presided over the University of Tokyo at the time and later founded Juntendo, a request to rename "hospital" to "iin" (medical institute) was sent from the University of Tokyo to the Ministry of Education (dated January 28 , 1872) to change the name. The reason for the name change is not specifically stated, but it is assumed that the problem was that the word "hospital" does not include the meaning of curing a sick person.
(2) After that, the term "clinic" was used for a long time, mainly for university hospitals, such as the former University of Tokyo Hospital. However, the Medical Care Act enacted in 1948 defined a hospital as a medical facility with 20 beds or more, and the term "clinic" came to refer exclusively to small-scale medical facilities with 19 beds or less.

Source: The Selected Edition of the Japanese Language Dictionary About the Selected Edition of the Japanese Language Dictionary Information

Japanese:

〘名〙病気を診察・治療する所。医者が個人的に経営していて、病院より規模の小さいものをいう。診療所。※うもれ木（1892）〈樋口一葉〉五「押たてし杭(くひせ)の面に、博愛医院(イヰン)建築地と墨ぐろに記るして」[語誌](1)もともとは「太医院」の略であったが、「病院」と共に hospital の概念を表わす新語として、中国洋学書から導入された。幕末、明治初期、「病院」が定着しつつあったが、当時、大学東校を主宰し後に順天堂を創設した佐藤尚中の意見で、「病院」を「医院」に改称すべきという病院改称伺（明治五年（一八七二）一月二八日付）が大学東校から文部省あてに出された。改称の理由は特に記されていないが、「病院」という語には病人を治す意味が含まれていない点が問題だったと推測される。
(2)以後、かつての東大医学部附属医院のように、大学病院を中心に「医院」という名称が長く使用されていたが、昭和二三年（一九四八）に発布された医療法で、病院は二〇床以上の医療施設と規定され、医院（診療所）はもっぱら一九床以下の小規模な医療施設を指すようになった。

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