Etymologically
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caffeine

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 00:09. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /ˈkæfiːn/, /kæˈfiːn/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French caféine,[2][3][4][5][6][7] formed from café (“coffee”) and the chemical suffix -ine.[2][8][7] Collins and Merriam-Webster instead take it from German Kaffein, from Kaffee (“coffee”);[9][10] the American Heritage Dictionary allows either,[11] and Merriam-Webster adds that the German word is now usually Koffein, after the botanical Latin name of the coffee plant.[10] Both words go back to the French name of coffee,[11][12] and Etymonline explains it as an English formation from coffee and the suffix -ine.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The alkaloid of coffee: 1817, spelt caffein, according to Etymonline, which names the Irish chemist Richard Chenevix as its discoverer and Thomas Thomson as the first to use the name.[13] Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1823 and Dictionary.com to 1820–30,[10][7] and the OED's first quotation is from Lindley's Introduction to the Natural System of Botany (1830), also Barnhart's date.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The name comes from the alkaloid's discovery in coffee beans, and the substance accounts for the stimulating effect of coffee and tea.[13] The OED describes it as crystallizing in white silky needles and found in the leaves and seeds of the coffee and tea plants, in guarana and in maté,[2] and modern dictionaries define it by its action as a stimulant of the central nervous system.[8][10][9]

Timeline

  • 1817 – caffein, the alkaloid of coffee.[13]
  • c. 1823 – first known use in Merriam-Webster.[10]
  • 1830 – first OED quotation, in Lindley.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A bitter white crystalline alkaloid, C8H10N4O2, found in coffee, tea, kola nuts, guarana and maté, that stimulates the central nervous system; it is also an ingredient of many tonics and pain relievers.[10][9][2][8]

Word family

  • caffeinated
  • caffeinism
  • decaffeinate

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  12. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  13. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com