Anodine

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. Something that soothes pain or distress, or serves to ease emotional suffering
2. Having the quality of calming discomfort or providing relief from physical or mental anguish
3. Tending to relieve pain or soothe troubled feelings with a comforting effect

Etymology: Before it described bland, inoffensive remarks, "anodyne" was a medical term for anything that relieved pain. The Greek "anōdynos" combined "an-", meaning "without," with "odynē", meaning "pain." Physicians used it for drugs and treatments that soothed suffering, and it passed into English from Latin "anodynus" with that same sense. The figurative meaning came later. Speakers began applying the term to speech, films, and products that soothed or did not provoke, and then to anything dull enough to avoid offending anyone. A "anodyne" comment is one that calms by saying nothing that could sting. The sense of relief from pain is still there, but it has been moved from the body to the conversation.