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caféine

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Etymology and origin of the French word caféine

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1823 A. Richard, Botanique médicale More words from the 19th century
Ultimate origin
Arabic قَهْوَة
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French café
English cafe
Spanish café
French caféine
English caffeine
From the same root
Spanish cafetero ← café

Pronunciation

Forms

caféine f (plural caféines)[1] First written caffeine (1823).[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French café + -ine, the suffix of chemical substances.[2][4][5] The alkaloid was discovered in coffee in 1820 by the German chemist Runge.[2]

Café is from Italian caffè, from Ottoman Turkish قهوه (kahve), from Arabic قَهْوَة (qahwa, “coffee”);[1] Bloch and Wartburg take the French word straight from the Turkish.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record is caffeine in A. Richard's Botanique médicale (Paris, 1823), for the alkaloid of coffee;[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg date the word to 1818.[6]

Semantic evolution

It was one of the chemical and medical terms formed in the 19th century for the active principles of coffee found by analysis.[7] Littré defined it as a crystallisable principle found in coffee, cacao and tea leaves.[8] The TLFi adds the use of the word, by extension, for the stimulant drug given by mouth or by injection.[2]

Caféine gave the adjective caféiné (1904), of a drink that contains caffeine, and the verb décaféiner (1911), whose past participle décaféiné is in very common use.[7]

Timeline

  • 1818 – Bloch and Wartburg's date for the word.[6]
  • 1820 – Runge discovers the alkaloid in coffee.[2]
  • 1823 – Caffeine appears in A. Richard's Botanique médicale.[2][3]
  • 1904 – Caféiné is recorded.[7]
  • 1911 – Décaféiner is recorded.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Caffeine, the alkaloid found in coffee beans, tea leaves, maté and cola, or made by synthesis.[9][2][10]
  2. (medicine) This substance used as a stimulant, given by mouth or by injection.[2][9]

Word family

  • caféiné
  • décaféiner
  • décaféiné

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
  6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Caféine.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/caf%C3%A9ine. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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