1875, "tending to remove pain," from analgesia "absence of pain" (1706), from Gk. an- "without" + algesis "sense of pain," from algos "pain," related to alegein "to care about," originally "to feel pain."
analgesic an·al·ge·sic (ān'əl-jē'zĭk, -sĭk) n. A medication capable of reducing or eliminating pain. Also called analgetic.adj. Characterized by analgesia.