Addiction
When we feed our body what it wants beyond the point of what it needs โ drugs, money, power, or anything.
How We Say It
ษยทdikยทshษn
Where It Comes From
Latin addictio โ a giving over, formal handing over. From addicere โ to assign, surrender, bind. In Roman law, the formal delivery of a debtor to a creditor โ the debtor became bound to the creditor's service. The medical and psychological meanings developed centuries later.
How It's Been Used
Originally moral and legal โ addiction meant being formally bound to something. Shifted to medical use in the late 19th century with the rise of pharmacology and asylum medicine. 'Addict' as a noun for a person dependent on drugs is largely 20th century. Now covers behavioral as well as chemical dependence โ gambling, food, screens โ though the medical community still debates the boundaries.