opium

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin opium and Ancient Greek ὄπιον (ópion), from ὀπός (opós, “juice of a plant”), from Proto-Indo-European *swokʷos (“juice, resin”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊpi.əm/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊpi.əm/

Noun

opium (countable and uncountable, plural opiums or opia)

1. (uncountable) A yellow-brown, addictive narcotic drug obtained from the dried juice of unripe pods of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, and containing alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, and papaverine.
2. (countable) Anything that numbs or stupefies.
   • "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, . . . It is the opium of the people." - Karl Marx

Noun

opium n

1. opium

Noun

opium m (plural opiums)

1. opium

Alternative forms

• opion

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ὄπιον (ópion), from ὀπός (opós, “juice of a plant”), from Proto-Indo-European *swokʷos (“juice, resin”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈo.pi.um/, [ˈɔ.pi.ũ]

Noun

opium n (genitive opiī); second declension

1. opium, poppy-juice

References

• opium in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• opium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Noun

opium c

1. opium (a drug)

   Religionen är ett opium för folket.

   Religion is the opium of the people. (Karl Marx)