What does "caffeine" mean?

An alkaloid, C₈H₁₀N₄O₂, found naturally in tea and coffee plants, which acts as a mild stimulant on the central nervous system.

What is a synonym for "caffeine"?

Common synonyms include: caffein, drug, stimulant.

Caffeine

//ˈkæfiːn// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
An alkaloid, C₈H₁₀N₄O₂, found naturally in tea and coffee plants, which acts as a mild stimulant on the central nervous system. uncountable, usually
"For example, 0.100 grams of caffeine yield by combustion, by weight, 0.180 grammes of carbonic acid."
2
a bitter alkaloid found in coffee and tea that is responsible for their stimulating effects wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

caffein drug stimulant

Antonyms

All antonyms

sleep inducer

Example

More examples

"In the first years that Coca-Cola was produced, it contained cocaine. In 1914, cocaine was classified as a narcotic, after which they used caffeine instead of cocaine in the production of Coca-Cola."

Etymology

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

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.