Then (1956), Moksha: Letters of Huxley & Osmond
The Psychedelic Word: Osmond's Coinage in 2025
Osmond coined 'psychedelic' to replace 'psychotomimetic' and 'hallucinogen', arguing that 'mind-manifesting' was a more accurate description of what these substances do. He and Huxley believed the word would shape how the substances were researched.
It's Complicated
The word 'psychedelic' became dominant in both research and culture, but its meaning has drifted far from Osmond's original clinical intent. 'Entheogen' (coined by Ruck et al. in 1979) is now preferred in ethnobotanical contexts. 'Classical serotonergic psychedelics' is the preferred neuroscience term. 'Hallucinogen' has partially returned in regulatory documents. 'Psychedelic' is simultaneously the most culturally powerful and most definitionally unstable of the available terms. Osmond's hope that the naming would control the framing has been only partially realized.