hypnotic

Etymology

It is borrowed from French hypnotique (“inclined to sleep, soporific”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} recorded in French in the 16th century, in Paré,^[2][3] from Late Latin hypnōticus,^[2][3][5][7] from Ancient Greek ὑπνωτικός (hupnōtikós, “inclined to sleep, putting to sleep, narcotic”),^[2][3][6][7] from ὑπνοῦν (hupnoûn, “to put to sleep”),^[2][3][5] from ὕπνος (húpnos, “sleep”),^[3][5][7] from Proto-Indo-European *swep- (“to sleep”).^[3][5] Merriam-Webster allows that it may come from French or directly from Late Latin.^[8] The sense "relating to hypnotism" is short for “neuro-hypnotic”, a term of James Braid's.^[2][8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Inducing sleep, soporific, of drugs: 1625, in Hart's Anatomie of Urines.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Until the 19th century the word described drugs that cause sleep; the noun, a sleep-inducing drug, follows in 1681.^[2][4][8] In 1842 James Braid introduced neuro-hypnotism for the "nervous sleep" he induced, and in 1843 shortened it to hypnotism;^[4] the same year, in his Neurypnology, hypnotic gained the sense "relating to or producing hypnotism", alongside hypnotize and hypnotist.^[2][3][4] It was applied to people susceptible to hypnotism from 1881,^[2] and the noun to a hypnotized person from 1888.^[2] The weakened modern sense, holding the attention as if by hypnosis (a hypnotic beat or stare), is recorded by Merriam-Webster.^[8]

Timeline

• 1625 – inducing sleep, of drugs.^[2][4]
• 1681 – noun, a drug that induces sleep.^[2][4][8]
• 1843 – relating to or producing hypnotism, in Braid's Neurypnology.^[2][3][4]
• 1881 – susceptible to hypnotism.^[2]
• 1888 – noun, a hypnotized person.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to, producing or produced by hypnosis: She was put into a hypnotic trance.^[9][8][2]
2. Holding the attention completely, as if by hypnosis; mesmerizing: the hypnotic rhythm of the waves.^[8]
3. Causing sleep; soporific.^[8][9][2]
4. Easily hypnotized.^[9][2]

Noun

1. A drug or other agent that causes sleep; a sedative.^[9][8][2]
2. A person who is hypnotized or easily hypnotized.^[9][8][2]

Word family

• hypnotically
• antihypnotic
• nonhypnotic
• posthypnotic
• prehypnotic
• unhypnotic

Related words

• hypnotize
• hypnotism
• hypnosis
• hypnotist
• Hypnos
• somnolent

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins