A patient is any recipient of health care services. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, physician assistant, advanced practice registered nurse, veterinarian, or other health care provider.

The word patient originally meant 'one who suffers'. This English noun comes from the Latin word patiens, the present participle of the deponent verb, patior, meaning 'I am suffering,' and akin to the Greek verb πάσχειν (= paskhein, to suffer) and its cognate noun πάθος (= pathos).