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aspirin

UK/ˈæs.p(ɪ.)ɹɪn/US/ˈæs.pɹɪn/
nounB1Common in everyday speech and writing · #2,859 of 15,258leans spoken

Aspirin is a common tablet taken for pain and fever. Take an aspirin, low-dose aspirin, aspirin for the pain.

Low doses are taken daily by many people to thin the blood after a heart attack, and taking it that way without medical advice carries real bleeding risk. It should not be given to children. The name was a Bayer trade mark that became the ordinary word.

Definitions of aspirin

  1. 1nounaspirinA common tablet taken for pain and fever.B1

    “She took an aspirin for her headache and lay down.”

aspirin is a medicine.

Where it comes from

A German trade name from 1899, built from acetylated spiraeic acid. It became the ordinary word in most countries.

  1. German

    Aspirin

  2. English, today

    aspirin

of German Aspirin, from acetylierte Spirsäure literally “acetylated spiraeic acid”. The trade name Aspirin is a registered trademark in some countries, but has entered the English language in generic usage, as various German trademarks were nullified in the United States after World War I (see also heroin).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

aspirin in the wild

  • The general recommendation to use aspirin in children was withdrawn because of Reye syndrome, with use only recommended in Kawasaki disease.

    Reye syndrome

  • Oxycodone/aspirin (trade name Percodan) is a combination drug marketed by Endo Pharmaceuticals.

    Oxycodone/aspirin

  • Co-codaprin (BAN) is a compound analgesic, a combination of codeine phosphate with aspirin.

    Co-codaprin

  • Diagnosis is generally based on repeated blood tests measuring aspirin levels and blood gases.

    Salicylate poisoning

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.