Added 9 October 2026
alcohol
/ˈæl.kə.hɒl/ noun
In Latin: alcohol First recorded: 15th century Wiktionary
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about alcohol at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- Any of a class of organic compounds (such as ethanol) containing a hydroxyl functional group (-OH).
- Ethanol.
- Beverages containing ethanol, collectively.
Origin
First attested in the 15th century from Middle English alcofol, from Middle French alcohol or Spanish alcohol, derived from the Medieval Latin rendering alcohol transmitted in medical or alchemical literature of Arabic اَلْكُحْل (al-kuḥl, “kohl”), which in Andalusian Arabic also bore the form كُحُول (kuḥūl), قُحُول (quḥūl); bearing thus the meaning of stibnite first, then generalized in meaning to a powder obtained by triturating a material, then also to liquids obtained by boiling down, and specialized to mean spirit of wine, ethanol, in the 18th century, then the narrow chemical sense after 1850. Doublet of alcool and kohl.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)