methamphetamine

Etymology

It is formed from English meth- + amphetamine,^[2][3][4][5] the drug being so called because it is a methyl derivative of amphetamine.^[6][2] The combining form meth- is taken from methyl,^[2] which came into English in 1840 from German Methyl or from French méthyle, shortened from the word for methylene;^[6] Etymonline traces it ultimately to the Greek words for "wine" and "wood".^[6] Amphetamine (1938) is itself shortened from the chemical name alpha-methylphenethylamine.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A methyl derivative of amphetamine with a similar but longer-lasting stimulant effect: 1949, in the Journal of the American Medical Association.^[2][4][6] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1945–50.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The drug had already been sold from 1939 under the proprietary name Methedrine, a brand of the Wellcome company,^[6][2] and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate gives methedrine as another name for it.^[8] The word was coined as a chemical and medical term; it is used medically, chiefly against attention deficit disorder and obesity,^[4] and the general dictionaries also stress its illegal use as a stimulant.^{[9][10][11][12]} The clipping meth for the drug is recorded from 1966 in the OED;^[2] Etymonline dates it to 1967.^[6] Merriam-Webster also links it with ice, a crystalline form smoked as a drug.^[8]

Timeline

• 1939 – Methedrine, a proprietary name of the drug.^[6][2]
• 1949 – the methyl derivative of amphetamine, as a stimulant of the central nervous system.^[2][4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A synthetic amine, a methyl derivative of amphetamine, that strongly stimulates the central nervous system and acts faster and longer than amphetamine.^[3][2][10]
2. The same drug used medically, usually as its hydrochloride, especially to treat attention deficit disorder and obesity.^[4][8]
3. The same drug made and taken illegally as a stimulant, often in a crystalline form: Police found a small lab producing methamphetamine in the barn.^[9][5][12]

Related words

• amphetamine
• methyl
• meth

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b 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 d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
12. ^ a b Webster's New World College Dictionary (2014), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt