Etymologically
Log in

nicotine

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 08:52. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˈnɪkətiːn/[1]

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it as borrowed from French nicotine,[2][3][4][5][6][7] formed with the suffix -ine from New Latin nicotiana (“the tobacco plant”),[2][3][4][8] with a change of suffix from the earlier nicotiane.[9][2] The OED, revised in 2003, instead treats it as formed in English from the stem of nicotian and nicotiana and the suffix -in, and dates the French word to 1818, in a translation of the very work of Thomson in which the English word first appears.[10] The New Latin name is herba nicotiana (“Nicot's herb”),[9][11][7] attested in 1565 in Gesner and attributed there to the French; the OED takes it from Middle French nicotiane, recorded in 1567.[10] It honours Jean Nicot (about 1530–1600), French ambassador in Lisbon, who introduced tobacco into France in 1560,[10][3][9][11] sending some to Catherine de Medici;[11][12] Etymonline and Wiktionary date the sending of seeds to 1561.[2][13] Hoad and Weekley call him Jacques Nicot.[5][12] His name is a diminutive of Nicolas according to Etymonline and Weekley;[2][12] Wiktionary calls the origin of the surname unclear.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The poisonous alkaloid of tobacco: 1817, in T. Thomson's System of Chemistry (5th edition),[10][6] at first spelled nicotin.[8][2] Barnhart and Etymonline date nicotin to 1819, and Barnhart the spelling nicotine to 1839.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its chemical sense.[10][6] It came after older English words for the plant itself: nicotian (1577), from French, and nicotiana (1600), first used for the tobacco plant or tobacco and later for the whole genus.[10][11] An adjective nicotian, "of tobacco", is recorded from 1609 and is now archaic.[10] Barnhart dates nicotinic to 1873, from nicotinic acid, formed when nicotine is oxidized.[3] Merriam-Webster also uses nicotine for the flowering tobacco plant.[6]

Timeline

  • 1560 – Jean Nicot introduces tobacco into France.[10][11]
  • 1577 – nicotian, the tobacco plant.[10]
  • 1600 – nicotiana, the tobacco plant.[10]
  • 1817 – the alkaloid of tobacco, as nicotin.[10][6][8]
  • 1819 – nicotin in Barnhart and Etymonline.[3][2]
  • 1839 – the spelling nicotine.[3]
  • 1873 – nicotinic.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A poisonous, colourless or yellowish, oily alkaloid, the chief active substance in tobacco; a stimulant in small doses, it is also used as an insecticide: the nicotine in a cigarette.[7][6][10]
  2. Flowering tobacco, a plant of the genus Nicotiana.[6]

Word family

  • nicotined
  • nicotineless
  • nicotinamide
  • nicotinism
  • nornicotine
  • nicotinic
  • nicotinize

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  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 Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  12. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House