Is there a difference between "medico" and "doctoro"?
I am starting to learn Spanish with Rosetta Stone. Sometimes they show a picture of a doctor and use the word "médico", but sometimes they say, "doctora". Is there a difference?
6 Answers
Hello Laura, welcome to the Forum.
Most of the time "médico" and "doctor" are used interchangeably. They pretty much mean the same as the respective "medic" and "doctor" in English. Therefore, while commonly by "doctor" we mean a physician, in reality not all doctors are medics. You can have a doctor in law, in physics, whatever. The same applies in Spanish.
"Doctora" is simply the female version of "doctor" .
"Doctoro" does not exist as a Spanish word. "Doctor" is already male in gender.
Gekko and Marianne have beaten me to it as usual. All I can add is that "médico" has a slightly less formal feel to it; always talk to your doctor as "doctor", if you call him "médico" he may prescribe you something uncomfortable. jeje
They are pretty much interchangeable words.
"Doctora" is a female doctor. The word "doctoro" does not exist. A male doctor would be "doctor."
¿Y si el médico es mujer... se le llama "médica"?
Most of the native speakers I converse with use "doctor", Pimsleur uses "medico" and when I started using it, they actually corrected me and told me to use "doctor."
Is there a difference between "medico" and "doctoro"?
I asked the same question a month or two ago.
¿Son las palabras doctor y médico intercambiable?
Un Médico is the correct word for a medical doctor
however, you would address them personally as Doctor
Heidita (admin) told me in her response that doctor can mean / refer to people who have a doctorate in Physics or some other qualification So, Heidita gave me the impression that they are not strictly interchangable even though the public use them as if they were interchangable.
I would add that being called doctor would not qualify them as a medical doctor so to easily distinguish between the two it is better to clarify the issue by calling medical doctors Médico and refer to the others as doctors of whatever field of expertise that they may have.eg doctor of Psychology.(PhD) ( I am sorry, I don't know how this is written correctly in spanish)
I hope that I have helped you to understand the difference. 
