codeine

Etymology

It is borrowed from French codéine,^[2][3][4][5] coined in 1832 by the French chemist P. J. Robiquet, who discovered the substance,^[6][2] from Ancient Greek κώδεια (kṓdeia, “head; poppy head”)^[2][3][5][7] and the chemical suffix -ine.^[2][4][5] The Greek word meant a head, and in Hellenistic Greek also a poppy head.^[2] Its origin is disputed.^[2][8][4] The OED calls it of unknown origin,^[2] and Beekes takes it as Pre-Greek, with no cognates.^[8] Etymonline, Klein and the Merriam-Webster Unabridged relate it to κῶος (kôos, “cavity, prison”) and κοῖλος (koîlos, “hollow”),^[4][7][9] and through them to Proto-Indo-European *keuə- (“to swell; vault, hole”) and to Latin cavus (“hollow”), the source of cave;^[4][5][7] Barnhart connects it instead with κώδων (kṓdōn, “bell”), from the bell shape of the poppy flower.^[6] The early English form codeina was probably modelled on Latin nouns in -a.^[2][4] German Codein (1833) is likewise from French.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A white crystalline alkaloid found in opium: 1833, in the Lancet.^[2] Etymonline dates the form codeina to 1838, and the modern form codeine to 1881,^[4] the date Barnhart gives.^[3][6] The Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to 1850.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The word was taken over from French chemistry a year after Robiquet named the alkaloid.^[2][6] It now names a drug made mostly from morphine, milder in action, and used to relieve pain and coughing;^[10][9] the OED adds the sense of a tablet or dose of it.^[2]

Timeline

• 1833 – an alkaloid of opium, used as a painkiller and cough suppressant.^[2] Etymonline records the form codeina from 1838.^[4]
• 1881 – the spelling codeine becomes established.^[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An alkaloid found in opium or made from morphine, milder in action, used as an analgesic and a cough suppressant.^[9][10][2]
2. A tablet or dose of this drug.^[2]

Word family

• oxycodone

Related words

• morphine
• cave

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins