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aspirin

Etymology and origin of the English word aspirin

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈæs.p(ɪ.)ɹɪn/ (UK); /ˈæs.pɹɪn/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It was coined in German in 1899 as a trademark, Aspirin,[2][3][4][5] from A- for acetyl and Spirsäure, an old name for salicylic acid,[3][4][6][5] with the chemical suffix -in.[3][4][5] Spirsäure comes from New Latin Spiraea, the meadowsweet, from which the acid was first obtained.[3][4][6] Etymonline credits the name to the chemist Heinrich Dreser.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A white crystalline compound, acetylsalicylic acid, used to relieve pain and fever (1899).[4][6][7][5]

Semantic evolution

By extension the word also means a tablet of the drug.[2][6][5][7] The name was originally a trademark.[2][5]

Timeline

  • 1899 – coined in German; first recorded in English.[4][6][7][5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A white crystalline compound, acetylsalicylic acid, used to relieve pain, fever and inflammation.
  2. A tablet of aspirin.
  • spiral
  • spirea
  • acetyl

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster gives both aspirin and aspirins as plurals.[6]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Aspirin.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/aspirin. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

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