What does errhine mean?
An errhine is a medicinal substance that promotes a discharge from the nose, most often by inducing sneezing. The term comes from the vocabulary of traditional European medicine, where practitioners sought to clear congestion and 'draw off' excess humors from the head through deliberately provoked sneezing or nasal flow. Errhines appear in older pharmacopoeias and medical dictionaries alongside related categories such as sternutatories — agents specifically designed to cause sneezing — and they reflect a therapeutic logic very different from today's decongestant sprays and antihistamines. In modern usage the word survives mainly as a historical curiosity: readers encounter it in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century medical writing, in antiquarian discussions of domestic remedies, and in unabridged dictionaries. Its root, the Greek word for nose, also lives on in familiar terms such as rhinitis, rhinoplasty, and rhinoceros.
nounAn errhine is a medicine or agent that induces a discharge from the nose, especially one that causes sneezing; it was historically used in medicine to clear nasal congestion.
- A medicinal agent that promotes discharge from the nostrils, especially by inducing sneezing.
"The apothecary prescribed an errhine to relieve the patient's stubborn head cold."
"The physician administered an errhine to draw off the humors collected in the patient's head."
"Powders classified as errhines were once standard items in the pharmacopoeia for treating nasal congestion."
Regular plural formation; typically used when referring to different substances or preparations of this class.
"Eighteenth-century pharmacopoeias listed several errhines among their remedies for head colds."
Before modern decongestants, doctors deliberately made you sneeze — and the powders they used had their own name: errhines.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of errhine
Errhine derives from the Greek verb rhein, meaning 'to flow', combined with the prefix relating to the nose (from Greek rhis, rhinos, 'nose'), so its literal sense is 'that which causes flow from the nose'. The word entered English medical vocabulary in the seventeenth century as physicians adopted Graeco-Latin terminology for classes of remedies. It shares its Greek root with modern medical terms such as rhinitis, rhinoplasty, and rhinology, all of which preserve the ancient Greek word for the nose.
How errhine is actually used
Errhine is an archaic term found chiefly in historical medical texts and older dictionaries. It belongs to the vocabulary of pre-modern pharmacology and would sound antiquated in contemporary clinical speech.
Easily confused with errhine
Erythrine refers to a red mineral or a red dye/coloring matter, whereas errhine is a substance that provokes nasal discharge.