dopamine

Etymology

It is formed from English dopa + amine.^[2][3][4][5] Merriam-Webster and the Oxford Dictionary of English call it a blend of dopa and amine.^[6][7] Dopa, the amino acid of which dopamine is the decarboxylated form, is from German Dopa, coined by B. Bloch in 1917 from the initial letters of the parts of dioxyphenylalanine, a former name of the compound.^[2][8][6] Amine was formed from ammonia and the chemical suffix -ine.^[5] Collins instead takes dopamine directly from the initial letters of dihydroxyphenylethylamine, the chemical name of the compound.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The immediate precursor of noradrenaline in the body, formed from dopa: 1959, in a paper by Senoh and Witkop in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.^[2][6][5] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1955–60.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The name was made in the 1950s on the model of the older dopa (1917).^[7][2] Dictionaries first defined dopamine by its place in the body's chemistry, as an intermediate in the making of noradrenaline and adrenaline;^[2][3][6] later definitions put first its role as a neurotransmitter in the brain, and the American Heritage Dictionary notes that a fall in its level in the brain goes with Parkinson's disease.^[4][10][7] The adjective dopaminergic, of nerve cells that release dopamine, was formed from it.^[3][10]

Timeline

• 1917 – dopa, the amino acid from which dopamine is formed, borrowed from German.^[2][6]
• 1959 – dopamine, the precursor of noradrenaline in the body.^[2][6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A monoamine compound that acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain and is formed from dopa; it is also a precursor of noradrenaline and adrenaline: Low levels of dopamine are linked to Parkinson's disease.^[6][4][9][7]

Word family

• dopaminergic

Related words

• dopa
• amine
• levodopa

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers