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> It is a vocational certification, requiring no research nor contribution to knowledge—just two to three years of classwork.

The same is true of an M.D. though with four years. They’re both doctorates.

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An MD is the first degree one earns in the subject. It takes four years to earn. It used to be a bachelor's degree: MB or MBBS. In the modern era, the premed requirements pushing total medical education to five and a half years probably justifies making the degree a master's degree. The residencies and fellowships that physicians do after earning the MD that are virtually required for any physician to practice probably make calling physicians "doctor" appropriate.

Still, calling the MD a doctorate is questionable.

We call doctors “doctors” not because of the “D” in MD but because they are doctors.

We call physicians "doctors" because the profession aggressively pushed the title on the public in an era where modern medicine was emerging from quackery. The title means "teacher" and was previously used for people who were especially learned.

Thanks. I’m not aware of how the term has traveled through history, so this is interesting. I just meant that, for most people, “doctor” is almost synonymous with physician, but, as you say, this may be more recent than I thought.

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