coke English · revision 7919

+ Coke, the fuel, is an old northern English dialect word, while coke, cocaine, and Coke, the drink, are 20th-century shortenings.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kəʊk/ ''(UK)''; /koʊk/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

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+ {{homograph|1|fuel}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=1669}}

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably the same as northern English dialect colk, a core,^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) Middle English colke, the core of an apple, the heart of an onion (about 1400), also charcoal (early 15th century),^(Etymonline) a word of uncertain or unknown origin.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) Etymonline compares Middle Dutch kolk, pothole, Old English -colc, pit, and Swedish dialect kälk, pith,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) and suggests the notion of the core of the coal or what is left in the pit after a fire.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The solid residue of coal after its volatile parts are driven off: the 1660s in Etymonline, 1669 in the OED;^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) the 17th century in Hoad, formerly often in the plural.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It became an important substance in metallurgy.^(Etymonline) The OED records the old slang phrase ''go and eat coke''.^(OED 1989) The verb, to turn into coke, is from 1763.^(MWU 2024) A layer of carbon formed in engine cylinders by incomplete combustion is also called coke.^(Collins 2023)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1400 – colke, a core.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1669 – the fuel.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1763 – the verb.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A solid fuel of almost pure [[carbon]], made by heating coal to drive off gases, used in making [[steel]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

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+ ===Verb===

+ # To convert or be converted into coke.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

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+ {{homograph|2|cocaine}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=clipping|attested=1902}}

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a shortening and alteration of [[cocaine]].^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cocaine as a drug: by 1902, American English, in Etymonline;^(Etymonline) about 1903 in MWU and 1908 in the OED.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 1989)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The verb, to drug oneself with cocaine, ''coke up'', and the adjective coked are from 1922.^(OED 1989) Coke, the soft drink, a popular shortening of the trademark Coca-Cola, is from 1909, perhaps influenced by the earlier slang use for cocaine; another early nickname for the drink was dope.^(Etymonline)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1902 – cocaine.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1909 – Coke, the drink.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1922 – coked up.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(slang)'' [[cocaine|alt=Cocaine]].^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # ''(Coke, trademark)'' Coca-Cola, or a glass or can of it.^(Collins 2023)^(Etymonline)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[coked]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cocaine]]

+ * [[coal]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}