anodyne

Etymology

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.

adj

1. (pharmacology) Capable of soothing or eliminating pain.
   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. 12 June 1847, Littell's Living Age, volume 13, number 161, page 483
   The citrate is the most efficient as an alkali, but irritates some stomachs, the liquor the most anodyne, the acetate the most diuretic. 1910, Edward L. Keyes, Diseases of the Genito-Urinary Organs, page 211
2. (figurative) Soothing or relaxing.
   Classical music is rather anodyne.
3. (by extension) Noncontentious, blandly agreeable, unlikely to cause offence or debate.
   It all became so routine, so anodyne, so dull. 20 May 2003, The Guardian
   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. 2004, John Dickie, Cosa Nostra: A History Of The Sicilian Mafia, Hodder & Stoughton
   States typically like to stick to anodyne messages, like saving wildflowers or animals. But every so often a controversy crops up. 9 Dec 2010, “Rattled”, in The Economist
   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. September 8 2022, Stephen Bates, “Queen Elizabeth II obituary”, in The Guardian

noun

1. (pharmacology) Any medicine or other agent that relieves pain.
2. (figurative) A source of relaxation or comfort.
   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. 1929, Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, page 79