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anodyne (AN-uh-dayn) - n., a medicine that soothes or alleves pain; anything that relieves pain or distress. adj., capable of soothing or eliminating pain; soothing to the mind or feelings; watered-down, insipid, blandly agreeable.
The pain relief is the original sense: adopted in the 1530s from Latin anōdynos, stilling or relieving pain, from Ancient Greek anṓdunos, free from pain, from an-, without + odúnē, pain. Soothing other feelings was a figurative extension from the next century. The bland and inoffensive sense is a 20th century further figurative extension.
---L.
The pain relief is the original sense: adopted in the 1530s from Latin anōdynos, stilling or relieving pain, from Ancient Greek anṓdunos, free from pain, from an-, without + odúnē, pain. Soothing other feelings was a figurative extension from the next century. The bland and inoffensive sense is a 20th century further figurative extension.
---L.
