Bute

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A strong anti-inflammatory painkilling drug, phenylbutazone, given mainly to horses ; a Scottish island in the Firth of Clyde off the west coast
2. Phenylbutazone, a veterinary medicine used to ease pain and swelling in horses ; an island in the Firth of Clyde on the Scottish west coast
3. A painkilling drug, phenylbutazone, commonly administered to racehorses for inflammation ; a Scottish island lying in the Firth of Clyde

Etymology: Bute is a clipped form of phenylbutazone, a drug best known in veterinary medicine as an anti-inflammatory for horses. The name was cut down by taking a syllable from the middle of the full word, so the familiar short name is a fragment of a longer chemical coinage rather than an older English term. The longer name is a manufactured one, built from the chemical components "phenyl" and "butazone" and not from an everyday word. Shortening it this way is a common habit for long drug names, which people in stables and clinics tend to abbreviate for convenience.