1. Any medication from the class of medications intended to treat pain is referred to as an analgesic medicine, also known as a simple analgesic (American English), an analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller. (that is, analgesia or pain management).
2. Although analgesia and anaesthesia are neurophysiologically similar and thus certain medications have both analgesic and anaesthetic effects, analgesics are conceptually separate from anesthetics, which temporarily diminish, and in some cases eradicate, feeling.