Anorectics

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Referring to substances or medications used to suppress appetite and promote weight loss
2. describing individuals or methods related to the psychological condition of reduced food intake
3. pertaining to the field of anorexia treatment, focusing on appetite regulation and management

Etymology: "Anorectics" is the plural of "anorectic", a noun for a drug that suppresses appetite. The adjective it comes from was borrowed from Ancient Greek "anórektos", meaning "without appetite", built from "an-", meaning "without", and "orégō", meaning "to desire" or "to reach out for". The Greek root survives in English through the same family of words that gives us "orectic", a term for appetite or desire. The sense of a loss of appetite is the original one, and the drug sense is a later extension of it. A substance that quiets hunger was described by the same adjective that once described a person lacking hunger, so the plural noun simply names a class of such substances. The Greek roots were available to scientific writers who needed a precise label, which is why the term reads as a technical coinage rather than an everyday word.

Synonyms: appetite suppressants