Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Ephedrine
/ɪˈfɛdrɪn/noun
A stimulant alkaloid from Ephedra plants, used to open the airways and raise blood pressure.
The Greek roots
ἐπί
epí
upon
ἕδρα
hédra
seat
Literally: “sitting upon”
The story of the word
The plant genus Ephedra carries a Greek name Pliny had used for horsetail, built from upon and seat, for a plant that perches on something. Nagai Nagayoshi isolated the alkaloid from ma huang in 1885, and it became the first widely used asthma drug before it became a banned stimulant. The ἕδρα in it is the same seat as in cathedral, which is named for a bishop's chair.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1880s
Same family
cathedralchairpolyhedronsanhedrin
In a sentence
Ephedrine sits on the prohibited list, which is why athletes have to read cold-medicine labels.