Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A bitter white alkaloid, C8H10N4O2, found in certain plants such as cacao, coffee, kola, and tea, that stimulates the central nervous system and body metabolism and is used in medicine, usually in combination with other drugs, to relieve headaches and treat respiratory conditions in premature infants.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a bitter alkaloid found in coffee and tea that is responsible for their stimulating effects

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[German Kaffein (from Kaffee, coffee) or French caféine, both from French café, coffee; see café.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French caféine, from café ("coffee") or German Koffein, from Kaffee ("coffee")

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