# anodyne
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English anodine, from Medieval Latin anōdynos (“stilling or relieving pain”), from Ancient Greek ἀνώδυνος (anṓdunos, “free from pain”), from ἀν- (an-, “without”) + ὀδύνη (odúnē, “pain”).
Adjective sense “noncontentious” probably through French anodin (“harmless, trivial”), of same origin.

### Pronunciation

* (General American, Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈæn.ə.daɪn/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -aɪn

### Adjective

anodyne (comparative more anodyne, superlative most anodyne)
* (pharmacology) Capable of soothing or eliminating pain. [from 16th c.]
** 1847 June 12, Littell's Living Age, volume 13, number 161, page 483:Many a time has the vapor of ether been inhaled for the relief of oppressed lungs; many a time has the sought relief been thus obtained; and just so many times has the discovery of the wonderful anodyne properties of this gas, as affecting all bodily suffering, been brushed past and overlooked.
** 1910, Edward L. Keyes, Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Organs, page 211:The citrate is the most efficient as an alkali, but irritates some stomachs, the liquor the most anodyne, the acetate the most diuretic.
* (figuratively) Soothing or relaxing. [from 18th c.]
    Classical music is rather anodyne.
* (by extension) Noncontentious, blandly agreeable, unlikely to cause offence or debate. [from 20th c.]
    Synonyms: bland, inoffensive, noncontentious
** 20 May 2003, The Guardian:It all became so routine, so anodyne, so dull.
** 2004, John Dickie, Cosa Nostra: A History Of The Sicilian Mafia, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN:What is less known about Cavalleria is that its story is the purest, most anodyne form of a myth about Sicily and the mafia, a myth that was something akin to the official ideology of the Sicilian mafia for nearly a century and a half.
** 2010 December 9, “Rattled”, in The Economist:States typically like to stick to anodyne messages, like saving wildflowers or animals. But every so often a controversy crops up.
** September 8 2022, Stephen Bates, “Queen Elizabeth II obituary”, in The Guardian‎:when the princess’s former nanny Marion Crawford, “Crawfie”, published an entirely anodyne and sycophantic memoir in 1950, she was cast into outer darkness by the family.

#### Synonyms

* (pharmacology): See Thesaurus:analgesic

#### Derived terms

* anodyne necklace

#### Translations
### Noun

anodyne (plural anodynes)
* (pharmacology) Any medicine or other agent that relieves pain.
* (figuratively) A source of relaxation or comfort.
** 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 16, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:Nor do I mean to say that Virtue is not Virtue because it is never tempted to go astray; only that dulness is a much finer gift than we give it credit for being; and that some people are very lucky whom Nature has endowed with a good store of that great anodyne.
** 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter VII, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC:The air was heavy with the perfume of the flowers, and their beauty seemed to bring him an anodyne for his pain.
** 1929, Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, page 79:So, with a sigh, because novels so often provide an anodyne and not an antidote, glide one into torpid slumbers instead of rousing one with a burning brand.

#### Derived terms

* anodynia
* anodynic
* anodynous
* chlorodyne

#### Translations
### References

* “anodyne”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “anodyne”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
* “anodyne”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

### Anagrams

* annoyed

## French
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /a.nɔ.din/
* Homophone: anodynes

### Adjective

anodyne
* feminine singular of anodyn

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /aˈnoː.dy.ne/, [äˈnoːd̪ʏnɛ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /aˈno.di.ne/, [äˈnɔːd̪ine]

### Adjective

anōdyne
* vocative masculine singular of anōdynos or anōdynus