anodyne

1. Capable of soothing or eliminating pain.
2. Relaxing: anodyne novels about country life.

1. A medicine, such as aspirin, that relieves pain.
2. A source of soothing comfort.

[Latin anōdynus, from Greek anōdunos, free from pain : an-, without; see a-¹ + odunē, pain.]

Selfish concerns and hypocrisy can lie behind soothing names, The New York Times avers:

"We live in an age of organizations with anodyne names that conceal their real agenda, and the Center for Consumer Freedom is one of them. We're all consumers, and what could be better than freedom? But C.C.F. was founded by a Washington lobbyist named Richard Berman and is financed, according to at least one watchdog group, by many of the same meat, fast-food, restaurant and beverage companies that have hired him as a lobbyist. Seed money came from Philip Morris."

Link: The Story Behind a New York Billboard and the Interests It Serves - New York Times.

Posted July 25, 2005.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.

An agent or drug that relieves pain; milder than analgesia.

1. relieving pain.
2. a medicine that eases pain.

For the Uncle Tupelo album, see Anodyne (album).

For the mathematical type of morphism, see Model category.

An anodyne (Greek αν, loss, and οδυνη, pain: a cause which relieves pain) is a medicine that relieves or soothes pain by lessening the sensitivity of the brain or nervous system. Also called an analgesic (or colloquially a "painkiller").

The term has been applied incorrectly to various medications, such as narcotics, hypnotics, and opiates. True anodynes were applied externally to the part affected. Among those classed "simple" were onion, lily, root of mallows, leaves of violet, and elderberry.

Certain compound medicines were also called by this name, such as anodyne balsam, made of castile soap, camphor, saffron, and spirit of wine, and digested in a sand heat. It was recommended not only for easing extreme pain, but for assisting in discharging the peccant matter that occurred with the pain.

By extension, soothing or placating words are called anodyne.

In common parlance, it means innocuous - not likely to offend or arouse passion.

Look up anodyne in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.

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