"condition characterized by a tendency to fall into a short sleep on any occasion," 1880, from French narcolepsie, coined 1880 by French physician Jean-Baptiste-Édouard Gélineau (1859-1928) from Latinized combining form of Greek narkē "numbness, stupor" (see narcotic (n.)) + -lepsie (as in epilepsy), from Greek lepsis "an attack, seizure," from leps-, future stem of lambanein "take, take hold of, grasp" (see lemma). Related: Narcoleptic; narcolept.

"uncontrollable craving for narcotic drugs," 1887, from narco- + mania.

1690s, "state of unconsciousness caused by a narcotic," Modern Latin, from Greek narkōsis, from narkoun "to benumb" (see narcotic (n.)).

late 14c., narcotik, "substance which directly induces sleep or allays sensibility and blunts the senses," from Old French narcotique (early 14c.), noun use of adjective, and directly from Medieval Latin narcoticum, from Greek narkōtikon, neuter of narkōtikos "making stiff or numb," from narkōtos, verbal adjective of narkoun "to benumb, make unconscious," from narkē "numbness, deadness, stupor, cramp" (also "the electric ray").

This has been connected to a PIE root *(s)nerq- "to turn, twist," with cognates in Germanic (Old Norse snara "to turn, swing, wind;" see snare (n.1)), but Beekes finds this "semantically far from convincing," and writes, "The structure of this word looks non-IE. Therefore, we should rather assume a Pre-Greek word *nark-." Sense of "any illegal drug" first recorded 1926, American English. Related: Narcotics.

c. 1600, "having the power to produce stupor," from Middle French narcotique (14c.) or German narkotisch and directly from Medieval Latin narcoticus, from Greek narkōtikos (see narcotic (n.)). As "consisting in or characterized by stupor," from 1660s. Related: Narcotical (1580s).

name of an East Indian plant as well as a precious aromatic unguent prepared from it, c. 1200, from Old French narde (Modern French nard) and directly from Latin nardus, from Greek nardos, a word of borrowed from a Semitic language (compare Hebrew ner'd, plural n'radim; Arabic and Persian nardin,) ultimately from Sanskrit narada, nalada, name of the plant and of an aromatic balsam. Related: Nardine.

"nostril" (especially of a hawk), late 14c., singular of nares.

in anatomy, "nostrils," 1690s, from Latin nares, plural of naris "nostril," from PIE root *nas- "nose."

"oriental water pipe for smoking," by 1820, from French narghileh, from Persian nargileh, from nargil "cocoa-nut," of which the bowl was originally made. The Persian word is probably from Sanskrit narikerah, which may be from a Dravidian source.