What does "quinine" mean?

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.

What is a synonym for "quinine"?

Common synonyms include: drug, quininize, stimulant.

Quinine

//kwɪˈniːn// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1
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. countable, uncountable
"The alkali of yellow bark may be distinguished from cinchonine by the name of quinine."
2
a bitter alkaloid extracted from chinchona bark; used in malaria therapy wordnet

Verb

1
To treat (someone) with quinine. archaic, transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms

drug quininize stimulant

Example

More examples

"Gin and tonic was the favored drink of British colonials due to its antimalarial quinine content."

Etymology

The noun is either: * 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.

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