把身體的痛拿掉
這一族最貼近字面：an-（沒有）+ odynē（痛）。名詞是那瓶藥，形容詞是那瓶藥做的事。
noun · C2
A medicine, or any substance, that takes away or reduces pain.
止痛藥
核心畫面
You can picture anodyne as the small bottle that takes the sting out. Something hurts; this is the thing you reach for, and afterwards the hurting is smaller. Nothing has been repaired — the pain has simply been . Once you hold that picture, every other use is the same move applied to something else: a worry , a sadness , and finally a sentence until there is nothing sharp left in it at all.
可以想成一小瓶「把痛拿掉」的藥。有東西在痛，你伸手拿它，痛就變小了。注意：原因沒有被修好，只是痛被磨鈍了。抓住這個畫…更多收起
可以想成一小瓶「把痛拿掉」的藥。有東西在痛，你伸手拿它，痛就變小了。注意：原因沒有被修好，只是痛被磨鈍了。抓住這個畫面，後面每個意思都是同一個動作換了對象。難受被磨鈍、心情被磨鈍，最後連一句話都被磨到沒有一點稜角。From the word’s history
From Medieval Latin anodynos, from Ancient Greek anodunos: an- 'without' plus odune 'pain' — literally 'without pain'. The adjective meaning 'noncontentious, bland' probably arrived through French anodin 'harmless, trivial'.
來自中世紀拉丁文 anōdynos，再往前是古希臘文 ἀνώδυνος：an-（沒有）加 ὀδύνη（痛），字面就是「沒有痛」。至於「不痛不癢、四平八穩」這個形容詞用法，可能是經由法文 anodin（無害的、微不足道的）進來的，來源相同。
Wiktionary 'anodyne' etymology, supplied in this packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:788814943)
Three branches
把心裡的難受磨鈍
同樣的動作，換成看不見的痛：擔心、想家、難過。藥的那個限制也跟著過來——好過一點，但事情沒解決。
noun · C2
Something that comforts people and takes their mind off pain, worry or sadness, even though it changes nothing.
慰藉；讓人好過一點的事物
把話裡的稜角磨掉
最後一步：被磨鈍的不是痛，是話。一段話安全到刺不到任何人——也就等於裡面什麼都沒有。
adjective · C2
Said, written or made in such a mild, safe way that nobody could be upset by it or want to argue with it — and so safe that it often feels empty and dull.
不痛不癢的；四平八穩的