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laudanum.

Any of several tinctures of opium, once widely used for various medical purposes and as a recreational drug.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈlɔːdənəm//ˈlɔːdnəm//ˈlɒdənəm/obsolete/ˈlɒdnəm/obsolete

  1. Any of several tinctures of opium, once widely used for various medical purposes and as a recreational drug.

    uncountable · usually
Where this word comes from

From New Latin, from lādanum (“a gum resin”), from Ancient Greek λᾱ́δανον (lā́danon). Originally the same word as ladanum, labdanum, compare French laudanum, Italian laudano, ladano. Perhaps influenced by Latin laudō (“to praise”). See ladanum. Used by Paracelsus to refer to ladanum gum, and to a compound recipe containing pearls, but apparently not to any preparation of opium; this modern sense was introduced by his followers (Sigerist 1941:540–1).

verb/ˈlɔːdənəm//ˈlɔːdnəm//ˈlɒdənəm/obsolete/ˈlɒdnəm/obsolete

  1. To add laudanum to (a drink or the like).

    transitive

  2. To cause (a person) to be high on laudanum.

    rare
Where this word comes from

From New Latin, from lādanum (“a gum resin”), from Ancient Greek λᾱ́δανον (lā́danon). Originally the same word as ladanum, labdanum, compare French laudanum, Italian laudano, ladano. Perhaps influenced by Latin laudō (“to praise”). See ladanum. Used by Paracelsus to refer to ladanum gum, and to a compound recipe containing pearls, but apparently not to any preparation of opium; this modern sense was introduced by his followers (Sigerist 1941:540–1).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.