nootropic

Meanings

1. Any substance purported to increase or enhance cognitive abilities.
2. A drug that enhances learning and memory and lacks the usual pharmacology of other psychotropic drugs (e.g. sedation, motor stimulation) and possesses very few side effects and extremely low toxicity.

1. Relating to substances that enhance cognitive performance.

Etymology

Coined by Romanian psychologist and chemist Corneliu E. Giurgea in 1972, derived from the Ancient Greek words νόος (nóos, “mind”) and τροπέω (tropéō, “to turn”). By surface analysis, noo(s) + -tropic, literally “mind changing”.