sudorific

Word of the Day
Monday May 7, 2012

I really liked today's word; it so fittingly describes our sultry, humid weather in the South!

sudorific \soo-duh-RIF-ik\ , adjective:
1. Causing sweat.
2. Sudoriparous.
noun:
1. A sudorific agent.

Having thrown him into a cold sweat by his spiritual sudorific, he attacks him with his material remedies, which are often quite as unpalatable.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Medical Essays, 1842-1882

Wracked by such sudorific thoughts, he tossed noisily about, maddened, aching.
-- Angela Huth, South of the Lights

Every sudorific hitherto employed had failed to produce this result upon a skin which horrible diseases had left impervious.
-- Honoré de Balzac, Cousin Pons

Sudorific comes from the Latin word sūdor meaning "sweat." The word "sweat" is unrelated and comes from the Old English, swote.