stimulant

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin stimulāns (“goading, urging on”), the present participle of stimulō (“to prick, goad, urge”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which is from stimulus (“goad, spur”).^[7][8][9] Etymonline takes the adjective from French stimulant or directly from Latin;^[8] the OED compares the French word, recorded in the 18th century, and stimolante.^[2] The English verb stimulate comes from the same Latin verb.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, in physiology and medicine, something that quickens a vital process or the working of an organ for a time: 1728, in Ephraim Chambers's Cyclopædia.^[2][8][4] The Shorter Oxford also dates the noun to the early 18th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective followed in 1772, of something that excites an organ or the body to greater activity.^[2][8] From 1803 it also simply meant stimulating, a use now rare.^[2] The general noun sense, anything that rouses one to action, an incentive, is recorded from 1794 but is now rare.^[2] In the 19th century the noun was used especially of alcoholic drinks: Etymonline finds stimulants for them by 1845 and the OED in Mill (1848),^[8][2] at a time when it was much debated whether the medical use of alcohol as a stimulant should be excluded from temperance.^[8] The Shorter Oxford describes the main modern sense as an alcoholic drink or a drug that stimulates bodily or mental activity.^[3]

Timeline

• 1728 – noun, in physiology and medicine, something that quickens a vital process for a time.^[2][8]
• 1772 – adjective, exciting an organ or the body to greater activity.^[2][8]
• 1794 – noun, something that rouses to action; an incentive.^[2]
• 1803 – adjective, stimulating (now rare).^[2]
• 1848 – noun, an alcoholic drink.^[2] Etymonline finds the plural in this sense by 1845.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A drug or other substance that raises the activity of the body or of an organ, especially of the central nervous system: Coffee contains a mild stimulant.^[9][4][3]
2. Anything that rouses or spurs one to action; a stimulus or incentive.^[9][2][4]
3. A drink containing alcohol.^[2][3]

Adjective

1. Raising physiological activity; stimulating.^[9][4][2]

Word family

• vasostimulant
• nonstimulant

Related words

• stimulate
• stimulus
• stimulation

References

1. ^ 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 e 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. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins