ketamine

See also: kétamine

English

Chemical structure of ketamine

Etymology

Blend of ketone +‎ amine. First use appears c. 1966.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛt.ə.mɪn/, /ˈkiː.tə.miːn/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɛt.əˌmin/, /ˈki.təˌmin/

Noun

ketamine (countable and uncountable, plural ketamines)

1. (pharmacology) A synthetic compound used as an anesthetic and analgesic drug and also (illicitly) as a hallucinogen.

   Synonyms: (slang) Special K, (slang) vitamin K

   • 1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, →ISBN, page 8:

     He was riding high that night, with a brick of Wage's ketamine on its way to Yokohama and the money already in his pocket.

Derived terms

• K-hole
• esketamine
• S-ketamine
• R-ketamine
• RS-ketamine

Translations

pain-killing drug

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 氯胺酮 (zh) (lǜ'āntóng), 克他命 (zh) (kètāmìng), (colloquial) K粉 (zh) (kēifěn)

• Dutch: ketamine (nl) f, keta c
• Finnish: ketamiini (fi)
• Greek: κεταμίνη (el) f (ketamíni)
• Polish: ketamina f
• Portuguese: cetamina f, quetamina f
• Romanian: ketamină f
• Russian: кетами́н (ru) m (ketamín)
• Spanish: ketamina f
• Swedish: ketamin (sv) n

References

• “ketamine”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “ketamine”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• kanemite

Dutch

Alternative forms

• keta, ket

Etymology

Borrowed from English ketamine.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

ketamine f (uncountable)

1. ketamine