aspirin

/ˈæspərən/

/ˈæsprɪn/

Other forms: aspirins

Aspirin is a medicine you might take when you have a headache. You can buy aspirin at a drug store, supermarket, or convenience store.

Aspirin is an anti-inflammatory drug — it reduces pain, swelling, and fever. Some people take aspirin in very small amounts to reduce the risk of having a stroke or heart attack, and since the late 1800s people have taken it to ease the pain of head and body aches. The word aspirin, coined by a German chemist, was originally a trademarked brand name, from the Latin Spiraea, the plant from which aspirin's chemicals were originally extracted.

Definitions of aspirin

1. noun

   the acetylated derivative of salicylic acid; used as an analgesic anti-inflammatory drug (trade names Bayer, Empirin, and St. Joseph) usually taken in tablet form; used as an antipyretic; slows clotting of the blood by poisoning platelets
   synonyms: Bayer, Empirin, St. Joseph, acetylsalicylic acid

   types:

   aspirin powder, headache powder

   a powdered form of aspirin

   Bufferin, buffered aspirin

   aspirin coated with a substance capable of neutralizing acid (trade name Bufferin)

   enteric-coated aspirin

   aspirin that is treated to pass through the stomach unaltered and to dissolve in the intestines

   type of:

   analgesic, anodyne, pain pill, painkiller

   a medicine used to relieve pain

   salicylate

   a salt of salicylic acid (included in several commonly used drugs)