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nicotine

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Etymology and origin of the French word nicotine

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation, Eponym
First attested
1818 Riffault des Hêtres, translation of Thomson's Système de chimie More words from the 19th century
Ultimate origin
New Latin nicotiana
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French nicotine
English nicotine

Pronunciation

  • /ni.kɔ.tin/[1]

Forms

nicotine f (uncountable)[1]

Etymology

It is from French nicotiane, the old botanical name of the tobacco plant, with its ending replaced with the suffix -ine.[2][3][4][5] That name (1567 in the DHLF, 1570 in Bloch and Wartburg) comes from the naturalists' New Latin herba nicotiana (“Nicot's herb, tobacco”).[4][3][6]

The plant was named after Jean Nicot, the French scholar who wrote the French dictionary Thrésor de la langue françoise (1606): as ambassador in Portugal (1558–1560) he received a tobacco plant and sent it to Queen Catherine de Médicis, after whom tobacco was also named for a time.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1818, in Riffault des Hêtres's French translation of Thomas Thomson's System of Chemistry, from an English text of 1817, as the name of the active substance of tobacco.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its single chemical sense, the alkaloid of tobacco that excites the central and peripheral nerves.[3][2] In the 19th and 20th centuries it gave a few terms of chemistry and pharmacology: nicotineux (1875), nicotinique (1878), which replaced the older nicotique formed on the stem of nicotiane, and the verb nicotiniser, which likewise replaced nicotiser.[3][2]

English took nicotine from French in 1819.[7]

Timeline

  • 1567 – Nicotiane is recorded as the name of the tobacco plant.[3]
  • 1818 – Nicotine appears in Riffault des Hêtres's translation of Thomson's chemistry.[2][3]
  • 1819 – English borrows the word.[7]
  • 1875 – The adjective nicotineux is recorded.[3]
  • 1878 – Nicotinique appears, replacing nicotique.[2][3]
  • 1932 – Nicotiniser is recorded by Larousse, replacing nicotiser.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (chemistry) nicotine, the oily, colourless alkaloid of tobacco, very soluble in water and a strong stimulant of the nervous system.[2][6][8]

Word family

  • dénicotinisé
  • nicotinique
  • nicotiniser
  • nicotineux

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
Cite this entry

“Nicotine.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/nicotine. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·