What does sudorific mean?
Sudorific means causing sweat, and it can also name a substance or medicine used to induce perspiration. The word is most often encountered in medical and historical writing, where it describes remedies or treatments intended to produce sweating. In the past, practitioners sometimes used sudorific medicines to treat fevers or other illnesses on the belief that inducing perspiration would help the body recover. Modern readers may encounter the term in descriptions of traditional remedies, such as hot drinks, steam baths, or herbal preparations with a sweat-inducing effect. Although its basic meaning is straightforward, “sudorific” has a distinctly formal and somewhat historical tone. In contemporary clinical language, “diaphoretic” is the usual equivalent. The adjective is generally used for a substance, medicine, treatment, or action that produces sweating, while the less common noun identifies the sweating-inducing agent itself.
Causing or inducing sweating.
"The physician prescribed a sudorific mixture to help the patient sweat."
Chiefly used in medical and historical contexts; “diaphoretic” is more usual in contemporary clinical writing.
A medicine or other substance that induces sweating.
"Hot ginger tea was used as a mild sudorific."
This noun sense is less common than the adjective and has a largely literary or medical tone.
The plural is rare because the noun is uncommon.
"The text discusses several sudorifics used by nineteenth-century physicians."
Some familiar medicines were called sudorifics because they were used to make the body sweat.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does sudorific come from?
The word comes from Latin sudorificus, meaning “sweat-producing,” formed from sudor, “sweat,” and the combining element -ficus, associated with facere, “to make.” English borrowed the term in the early 17th century for medicines or substances that induced perspiration. Its relatives include sudation, referring to the process of sweating, and sudoriferous, another term for something that produces or carries sweat.
Related word forms
How sudorific is actually used
Sudorific is chiefly literary or medical. In modern clinical writing, “diaphoretic” is more common. As a noun, it usually refers to a substance or medicine used to induce perspiration.