drug

English

/dɹʌɡ/

noun
Definitions
  • (pharmacology) A substance used to treat an illness, relieve a symptom, or modify a chemical process in the body for a specific purpose.
  • A psychoactive substance, especially one which is illegal and addictive, ingested for recreational use, such as cocaine.
  • Anything, such as a substance, emotion or action, to which one is addicted.
  • Any commodity that lies on hand, or is not salable; an article of slow sale, or in no demand.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English drogge (medicine) derived from Middle French drogue (cure, pharmaceutical product) derived from Old French drogue derived from Middle Low German droge (dry) derived from Middle Dutch droghe, drōghe (dry) derived from Old Dutch drōgi (dry) derived from Proto-Germanic *draugiz (dry, parched, hard).

Origin

Proto-Germanic

*draugiz

Gloss

dry, parched, hard

Concept
Semantic Field

Sense perception

Ontological Category

Property

Kanji

干, 乾

Emoji
🏜️

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms