Knowledge

/

ArcaMax

Today's Word "Anodyne"

on

Published in Vocabulary

anodyne \AE-neh-din\ (adjective) - Alleviating or reducing pain; soothing or comforting.

"There is nothing so anodyne as one of mama's apple pies after traveling for weeks and eating at diners and fast-food joints."

 

Today's word originated in Greek anodynos "free from pain," based on an-"without" + odyne "pain." "Odyne" is related to English "eat;" both originate in Proto-Indo-European od-/ed- "bite." In Germanic languages the [d] became [t], which changed to [ss] in German (as in Wasser "water"), so we are not surprised to find essen "to eat" in German. German fressen "to feed, devour" also goes back to Proto-Germanic fra- "completely" + etan "to eat up," which we inherited as fret "to wear or be eaten away, to worry."


 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus

 

Related Channels

EcoTips

EcoTips

By Danny Seo
The Word Guy

The Word Guy

By Rob Kyff

Comics

Rudy Park Kevin Siers Joey Weatherford David Fitzsimmons Pearls Before Swine Momma