以上两个词的意思非常相似,使用起来几乎没有区别,但特定的情况下会趋向用其中的某一个。
drug和medicine二者都用于治疗,但drug有时也指illegal drug(违法药物)这些非法使用的化学药品。复数形式的drugs几乎都是指违法药物,即毒品。drug有含副作用的药的意思,与此相对,medicine表示更安全不太违法的药物。另外,还有Laughter is the best medicine.(笑是良药)这样比drug更广的用法。
Drug is a more dangerous-sounding word that can refer to both legal and illegal substances.Medicine is a safer-sounding word that refers to substances that are inteded to improve health.