elixir [LME] The root of both elixir and Xerox is Greek xēros ‘dry’. Elixir came into English via Arabic al-'iksı¯r, from Greek xı¯rion ‘powder for drying wounds’. It was first used in alchemy, as the name of a sought-after preparation that was supposed to change ordinary metals into gold, and one that could prolong life indefinitely (the elixir of life). Xerox, a name for a copying process that uses dry powder, dates from the early 1950s. See also chemist.