- hypnotic
- 1625, "inducing sleep," originally used of drugs, from Fr. hypnotique "inclined to sleep, soporific," from L.L. hypnoticus, from Gk. hypnotikos "inclined to sleep, putting to sleep, sleepy," from hypnoun "put to sleep," from hypnos "sleep" (see somnolence). Modern sense of "induced trance" first recorded in Eng. 1843, along with hypnotist, hypnotize, all coined by Dr. James Braid.