caffeine

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from French caféine,[1] from café (“coffee”), or German Caffein, Kaffein[2] (cp. Coffein, Koffein), from Kaffee (“coffee”) (cp. Kaffe, Koffee, Koffe), or Italian caffè (“coffee”) +‎ -ine.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkæfiːn/, /kæˈfiːn/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -æfiːn, -iːn

Noun

caffeine (usually uncountable, plural caffeines)

  1. An alkaloid, C8H10N4O2, found naturally in tea and coffee plants, which acts as a mild stimulant on the central nervous system. [from 1830]
    Coordinate terms: guaranine, mateine, theine
    • 2024 March 11, Jocelyn Solis-Moreira, “Dark roasted and dangerous: Everything you should know about caffeine intoxication”, in CNN‎[1]:
      The US Food and Drug Administration defines this limit as anything more than 400 milligrams of caffeine daily for healthy adults. This is equivalent to four or five cups of coffee.

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ^ “caffeine”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “caffeine”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

Italian

Noun

caffeine f pl

  1. plural of caffeina
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