analgesic

analgesic

See also: analgèsic

English

WOTD – 8 October 2010

Alternative forms

• antalgesic (uncommon)

Etymology

From analgesia (“absence of pain”) +‎ -ic, from New Latin, from Ancient Greek ἀν- (an-, “without”) + ἄλγησις (álgēsis, “sense of pain”), from ἄλγος (álgos, “pain”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˌæn.l̩ˈd͡ʒiː.zɪk/, /ˌæn.l̩ˈd͡ʒiː.sɪk/
• Rhymes: -iːzɪk

• Audio (Northern California, US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

analgesic (plural analgesics)

1. (pharmacology) Any medicine, such as aspirin, that reduces pain, especially without inducing a loss of other sensation. (Contrast anesthetic.)
   • 2004, Jocoby, David B. and Youngson, R. M., Encyclopedia of Family Health‎, Marshall Cavendish, page 137:

     I am taking an analgesic. Is it safe to drink alcoholic beverages?

   • 2010, Associated Press staff, Cadence signs option to buy Incline (original copy), Bloomberg Businessweek:

     Incline makes Ionsys, a potential analgesic for adult inpatients requiring opioid pain treatment after surgery.

Hyponyms

• See also Thesaurus:analgesic

Translations

medicine that reduces pain

Arabic: مسكن ألم‎ Armenian: ցավազրկող (cʿavazrkoł) Catalan: analgèsic (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 鎮痛劑／镇痛剂 (zh) (zhèntòngjì), 止痛藥／止痛药 (zh) (zhǐtòngyào) Czech: analgetikum (cs) n Danish: lokalbedøvelse c, analgetikum n Dutch: pijnstiller (nl) m Esperanto: analgeziko Estonian: valuvaigisti Finnish: särkylääke (fi), kipulääke (fi), analgeetti (fi) French: analgésique (fr) m Galician: analxésico (gl) m German: Analgetikum (de) n Greek: αναλγητικό (el) n (analgitikó) Hebrew: שיכוך כאב‎ Hindi: दर्द निवारक du or n du (dard nivārak) (formally), Hungarian: fájdalomcsillapító (hu) Indonesian: analgesik (id) Inuktitut: ᐋᓐᓂᐊᓇᖏᑦᑐᑦ (aannianangittot) Irish: anailgéiseach m Italian: analgesico (it) m, lenitivo (it) m Japanese: 鎮痛剤 (ちんつうざい, chintsūzai) Korean: 진통제 (ko) (jintongje) Malay: analgesik Polish: lek przeciwbólowy m, analgetyk (pl) m Portuguese: analgésico m Romanian: substanță analgezică f Russian: анальге́тик (ru) m (analʹgétik) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: аналгетик m Latin: аnalgetik m Slovak: analgézia f Slovene: analgetik m Spanish: analgésico (es) m Swedish: analgetika (sv) c Tamil: வலிநீக்கி (valinīkki) Thai: ยาบรรเทาปวด (yaa-ban-tao-bpùuat) Turkish: analjezik (tr) Ukrainian: анальгетик m (analʹhetyk) Urdu: مُسَـکِّن‎ Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• painkiller

References

• "Analgesics". MeSH 2010, National Library of Medicine.
  • WHO Guidelines on the Pharmacological Treatment of Persisting Pain in Children with Medical Illnesses, (2012) World Health Organization

Adjective

analgesic (comparative more analgesic, superlative most analgesic)

1. (pharmacology) Of or relating to analgesia; anodyne.
   1. (of medicine) Acting to relieve pain; being an analgesic.
   2. (of a person, etc) Unable to feel pain.
      • 1896, Philadelphia General Hospital, Reports: Collected Reprints, page 138:

        With the exception of the foot and a small area over the malar bone, the entire left side of the body is analgesic and anaesthetic. This extends to the exact median line of the body, including the left half of the tongue, nose and chin, […]

      • 1924, Maurice Walter Keatinge, Suggestion in Education:

        (I find that he is analgesic and anaesthetic; evidently he is in a state of passive somnambulism.)

        E. A. Did you feel anybody touch you?

        K. No. There's no one near me. (He continues laughing and talking. […] )

Translations

of or relating to analgesia

Catalan: analgèsic (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 鎮痛劑的／镇痛剂的 (zh) (zhèntòngjì de), 止痛藥的／止痛药的 (zh) (zhǐtòngyào de) Czech: analgetický (cs) Esperanto: analgezika Finnish: kipua lievittävä, analgeettinen (fi) Galician: analxésico (gl) German: analgetisch (de) Greek: αναλγητικός (el) (analgitikós) Irish: anailgéiseach Italian: analgesico (it) Norwegian: Bokmål: smertestillende (no) Nynorsk: smertestillande Polish: przeciwbólowy (pl), analgetyczny (pl) Portuguese: analgésico Romanian: analgezic (ro) Russian: анальгети́ческий (ru) (analʹgetíčeskij), болеутоля́ющий (ru) (boleutoljájuščij), обезбо́ливающий (ru) (obezbólivajuščij) Serbo-Croatian: Roman: analgetski, analgètičkī (sh) Spanish: analgésico (es)

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “analgesic”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• analgesia in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Further reading

• analgesic on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• angelicas