August 20, 2013, 19:46
bethree5Anodyne
What a great word. It sounds like a chemical, & the literal meaning is "pain-relieving", but I encountered it twice in the Saturday NYT, both times with a context indicating a quality so bland as to be neither stimulating nor offendive. Sort of like elevator music.
August 20, 2013, 21:20
KallehNow that I think of it, I haven't seen it used in my nursing practice, though maybe I've just not seen it.
I am not sure I did this right, but using arnie's
Ngram Viewer with the words "pain relieving," "analgesic" and "anodyne," clearly "analgesic" is more common. However, interestingly, "pain relieving" was cited zero times between 2000 and 2008.
August 21, 2013, 01:31
arniequote:
both times with a context indicating a quality so bland as to be neither stimulating nor offendive. Sort of like elevator music.
That is one of the meanings, according to
Wiktionary, and, although I have no data, I'd suggest it is the most common nowadays.
August 24, 2013, 05:23
Geoffquote:
Originally posted by bethree5:
What a great word. It sounds like a chemical
Were it a chemical the opposite would be cathodyne. Wrong etymology, though.