anesthetic

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἀναίσθητος (anaísthētos, “without feeling, insensible”) with the suffix -ic.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The Greek adjective is formed from ἀν- (an-, “not, without”) and αἰσθητός (aisthētós, “perceptible, sensible”), from αἰσθάνομαι (aisthánomai, “to perceive, feel”),^[5][6][2] and is related to ἀναισθησία (anaisthēsía, “lack of sensation”), the source of anesthesia.^[3][2][4] Etymonline gives its Greek senses as insensate or without feeling, but also senseless, tactless and stupid.^[3] Merriam-Webster refers the Greek verb to the same root as audible.^[5] According to Barnhart, the English adjective was proposed in 1846 by the American physician and author Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–94),^[2] and Dictionary.com marks it as an Americanism of 1840–50.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the adjective, in the sense able to produce anesthesia, to 1823.^[5] Etymonline records it first in 1846 for "insensible", and in 1847 for "producing temporary loss of sensation";^[3] Barnhart also dates it to 1846, in the spelling with -ae-.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word spread with the first surgical use of anesthesia, which Etymonline dates to 1846.^[3] The noun, a substance that produces anesthesia, is dated 1845 by Merriam-Webster Unabridged^[5] and 1848 by Merriam-Webster's Collegiate and Barnhart;^[8][2] Etymonline credits its first use in the modern sense, in 1848, to the Scottish doctor James Young Simpson (1811–1870), a pioneer of chloroform in surgery.^[3] Both the adjective and the noun were extended to dullness of feeling: the adjective to a lack of awareness or sensitivity,^[8][5][9] the noun to anything that brings relief from pain or worry.^[8][5] The spelling anaesthetic is the usual one in British English, and anesthetic the usual one in the United States.^[10][11] In British use the plural anaesthetics also names the study or practice of anaesthesia.^[12]

Timeline

• 1823 – adjective, able to produce anesthesia.^[5]
• 1845 – noun, a substance that produces anesthesia.^[5] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate and Barnhart date the noun to 1848.^[8][2]
• 1846 – adjective, insensible, proposed by Oliver Wendell Holmes.^[3][2]
• 1847 – adjective, producing temporary loss of sensation.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Causing or able to cause anesthesia: an anesthetic gas.^[9][5][11]
2. Relating to anesthesia: the anesthetic risks of a long operation.^[9][5]
3. Lacking sensation or awareness; insensitive or unresponsive: He seemed anesthetic to every complaint.^[8][5][9]

Noun

1. A substance that causes loss of sensation, with or without loss of consciousness: The dentist gave her a local anesthetic.^[9][5][10]
2. Something that brings relief from pain or worry; a palliative.^[8][5][9]
3. In the plural form anaesthetics: the study or practice of anaesthesia.^[12]

Word family

• anesthetically
• nonanesthetic
• postanesthetic
• local anesthetic
• general anesthetic

Related words

• anesthesia
• anesthesiology
• anesthetist
• anesthetize
• aesthetic
• audible

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press