A serpent coiled around a stemmed bowl, marking pharmacy.
Also known as: Pharmacy symbol, Snake and cup, Chemist symbol
A snake winding around a shallow stemmed bowl marks pharmacy specifically, rather than medicine in general. Hygieia was the daughter of Asclepius, and the split between the two symbols mirrors the split between dispensing and practising.
Identifies pharmacy and the pharmacy profession, appearing on pharmacy signage, professional bodies' emblems and qualifications.
Contexts: Medicine
Distinguishes pharmacy from medicine generally: the Rod of Asclepius marks medical practice, while the bowl marks the preparing and dispensing of remedies.
Contexts: Medicine
Takes its name from Hygieia, the Greek goddess of health and daughter of Asclepius, who was depicted feeding a serpent from a bowl.
Classical Greek antiquity · Contexts: Medicine
Is not used uniformly across countries: the green cross, the red 'A' for Apotheke, and other national marks serve the same role in different places.
A regional limitation. The bowl is common in English-speaking pharmacy practice; it is not a universal pharmacy mark.
Contexts: Medicine
A shallow bowl on a short stem, its rim drawn as a wide horizontal curve, with a serpent rising beside it and its body arching over the rim as though drinking.
Both derive from the Asclepius family of healing symbols; the bowl marks pharmacy, the rod marks medicine.
Both show a single serpent coiled around an upright object, which is why they are read as related at a glance.