📖 nopium

/ˈnəʊpiəm/  ·  noun, informal

The reflexive, almost addictive pull of saying no: pessimism or obstruction used as a comfort, so that nothing new is tried and nothing can be blamed on you.

‘He’s on the nopium again: that’s his fourth rejection of a proposal he hasn’t read.’

ORIGIN  Blend of no and opium, on the model of copium and hopium. Coined by Gita, October 2026.

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cf.

copium noun, informal

Blend of cope and opium: an imaginary drug taken to deny bad news that has already arrived. Coiner unknown; Merriam-Webster says various people probably coined it independently in the 2000s. It spread widely from a July 2019 4chan meme of Pepe the Frog breathing from a tank labelled ‘copium’.

hopium noun, informal

Blend of hope and opium: an imaginary drug behind unrealistic optimism. Coiner unknown, but the earliest print uses found are British: a joke about ‘Hope-ium’ in Fun (London), 6 February 1864, and ‘The Band of Hope-ium!’ in The Tomahawk (London), 28 May 1870. It was revived in a Chicago Tribune column by John Kass, 30 July 2008, teasing Obama supporters.

Sources for copium and hopium: Merriam-Webster; Grammarphobia (January 2026); Word Histories (May 2026).