quinine
UK /kwɪˈniːn/ · US /ˈkwaɪ.naɪn/ noun, verb
Forms quinines quinining quinined
- noun (pharmacology) An alkaloid with the chemical formula C₂₀H₂₄N₂O₂, originally derived from cinchona bark (from plants of the genus Cinchona), used to treat malaria and as an ingredient of tonic water, which presents as a bitter colourless powder; also, a drug containing quinine or a chemical compound derived from it.
- verb (transitive, archaic) To treat (someone) with quinine.
Synonyms
Etymology
* derived from Spanish quina (“quinine”) (a clipping of quinaquina (“Cinchona bark”)) + English -ine (suffix forming names of chemical substances, especially (among others) alkaloidal substances); or
* borrowed from French quinine, from quin(quina) (“Cinchona bark”) + -ine (feminine form of -in (suffix forming nouns)).
Spanish quinaquina and French quinquina are both derived from Quechua kina-kina, a reduplication of kina (“bark; (specifically) Cinchona bark”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Webster’s 1913
- noun An alkaloid extracted from the bark of several species of cinchona (esp. Cinchona Calisaya) as a bitter white crystalline substance, C20H24N2O2. Hence, by extension (Med.), any of the salts of this alkaloid, as the acetate, chloride, sulphate, etc., employed as a febrifuge or antiperiodic. Called also quinia, quinina, etc. [Written also chinine.]
Etymology [F. (cf. Sp. quinina), fr. Sp. quina, or quinaquina, Peruvian bark, fr. Peruv. kina, quina, bark. Cf. Kinic.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “quinine”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details